Friedrich Regenstreif
Friedrich "Fritz" Regenstreif was a Jewish industrialist and art collector whose Villa in Vienna was Aryanized along with his companies.
Life
Regensteif owned lumber businesses. His companies included Krivaja Sumska Industrija A.D. Ortlieb Zavidovici, later "Aryanized" into Holzbauwerke BreslauFamily
Regenstreif's son Paul was born on January 21, 1899. He married ThereseRegenstreif's daughter Ellen Rose Illich, had three children
Villa
Regenstreif had the famous Villa Regenstreif built at 18. Wiener Gemeindebezirk Währing, Pötzleinsdorfer Straße 36–38. The villa was later Aryanized under the Nazis.Nazi era
In March 1941, Friedrich Regenstreif was forced to sell Villa Regenstreif together with its valuable inventory to the National Socialist German Labor Front for 550,000 Reichsmark. Shortly afterwards he died. In March 1942, Regenstreif's son and heir Paul, had to flee Vienna to escape Nazi persecution. In September 1942, his daughter and heir, the then Italian citizen Ellen, emigrated to Florence via Split with her three children. After Magda Goebbels, the wife of Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, showed interest in acquiring the property, it was transferred to the National Socialist People's Welfare Organization in 1943. The NSV planned to build a convalescent home for war-disabled officers of the German Wehrmacht on the site."Postwar
From 1945 to 1955, the US authorities rented the building. Although the exterior of the villa was intact, the interior was destroyed. In 1958, the decision was made to sell it; the building burned down in 1964.Claims for restitution
After long effort to calculate the damage, the Republic of Austria recognized in a settlement concluded with Ellen in 1953 that the damage incurred exceeded the amount of 250,000 Schilling and waved the repayment obligation.In 1954, Ellen I. sold her half of the property to the other half owner, her sister-in-law Therese R. After several sales, the majority of the property came into the possession of the Federal Chamber of Commerce in the 1960s. In 1964, Villa R. fell victim to a fire and was demolished. Following the construction of several student residences, the property was transferred to BUWOG GmbH, a housing association of the Republic of Austria, in the 1980s.