The Salmos do not give up the fight for their property and are waiting for another decision from the Constitutional Court

Brno – The Salm family insists that the last holder of the family estate in Blanensko, Hugo Salm, suffered during the Protectorate and supported the resistance against the Nazis. The family is now awaiting a decision from the Constitutional Court (ÚS) regarding yet another complaint. They seek to achieve a reopening of proceedings and recognition that Salm retained Czechoslovak citizenship after the war, which is key to the restitution claim. A statement from Marie Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitzová, the daughter of Hugo Salm, was provided to ČTK today by the media representative Josef Koukolíček.

Salm received a provisional certificate of citizenship from the District National Committee in Boskovice in 1946. Citizenship was not definitively resolved because Salm passed away. In 2002 and again in 2006, the Ministry of the Interior retroactively revoked this certificate. Restitutions were thus halted. This concerns 6,000 hectares of land, forests, and a castle in Rájce nad Svitavou.

According to Salm's daughter, the ministry had no reason to continue the proceedings initiated after World War II. "It should have instead stopped them, allowing for the continuation of restitution. Instead, we continue to witness the questioning of Prince Hugo Salm's anti-Nazi actions during World War II by state officials," Salmová stated.

According to the family, the National Committee relied on two criteria - Hugo Salm fought against the Nazis and suffered under Nazi terror. "However, after more than six decades, the Ministry of the Interior decided otherwise. Despite the fact that bedridden and seriously ill Hugo Salm was hiding a partisan at his castle in Rájce nad Svitavou during the Protectorate, the Ministry does not consider this heroic act as 'fighting' in the true sense of the word," the daughter noted.

According to Salmová, the ministry also irrationally dealt with the condition of suffering under the rule of the occupying forces. "The Nazi forced administration over the Salm family's property, according to them, also does not reach the intensity of 'suffering.' Despite the continual threat of confiscation looming over the estate in favor of SS leader Heinrich Himmler," the daughter added.

The complaint received by the ÚS last year targets the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court. This court, in agreement with the Municipal Court in Prague, did not allow the reopening of the proceedings. Both administrative courts thoroughly examined documents and other evidence in the reopening proceedings, through which the descendants sought to demonstrate Salm's positions and experiences during the war. According to previous decisions, it was not proven that Salm actively participated in the fight for liberation or that he suffered under Nazi terror. New documents did not contribute to a change in perspective either.

In 1939, Salm declared German nationality in a questionnaire. His descendants claim that he acted under the pressure of circumstances associated with occupation, not of his free will. Therefore, according to the descendants, he never lost Czechoslovak citizenship. Some historians, on the other hand, point to Salm's contacts with the Nazis.

The ÚS has repeatedly dealt with the Salm family's legal disputes in the past. In 2005, it granted the descendants’ complaint in the citizenship dispute. However, this was only a partial success. The ministry subsequently revoked the provisional citizenship again. According to Salmová, "it cannot be that in a legal state, the decisions of the Constitutional Court are not respected."