Liechtenstein not to ask Czechs for return of property

The decrees issued by former Czechoslovak president President Edvard Benes provided for the confiscation of the property of collaborators, traitors, ethnic Germans and Hungarians, except for those who themselves suffered under the Nazis. They also formed a basis for the transfer of the former groups from Czechoslovakia.

The Liechtensteins owned extensive properties, including the UNESCO-listed complex of the Lednice and Valtice chateaus, south Moravia, in the Czech Lands.

Hans Adam II said today the Liechtensteins would be glad if the properties were returned to them.

He said the family would immediately start to invest in them so that new values start to be created from them just as the ancestors used to do.

Hans Adam II said such a solution would also be in the interest of the Czechs.

He added, however, that the family is not planning any active steps aimed to regain the property.

Hans Adam II said the Liechtensteins were mainly interested in putting relations between the two countries on a normal footing.

He said this happened when the countries established diplomatic relations recently.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz