The Rothschild family acted today in a bid to recover part of what may be the largest ransom ever paid–the estimated $20, 000, 000 handed over to Hitler in 1939 for the release of Baron Louis de Rothschild. The ransom was paid after the failure of a direct appeal to Hitler by the Duke of Windsor.
R. D. Wilberforce, a London attorney, appealed to the Foreign Compensation Commission to uphold the claim of Baroness Clarice de Rothschild, widow of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, to 600 acres of land included in the ransom. The Nazis sold the land, then in German-occupied Poland, to a German baroness.
Lady Rothschild is claiming about $250,000 in compensation for the land from a fund set up by the Polish Government to compensate British owners for property taken over by the Polish People’s Republic.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
