FRIEDRICH III,
SOLMS-BARUTH
PRINCE OF
THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO THE REHABILIATION OF A RESISTANCE WAR HERO, FRIEDRICH III, PRINCE OF SOLMS-BARUTH
Prince Friederich was arrested by the Nazis for his involvement in the failed ‘Valkyrie’ assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in July, 1944. After 9 months of incarceration and torture he was forced to surrender his assets in March 1945. His home and 17,300 hectares of land were passed directly to Himmler.
​
The Prince is a recognized victim of Nazi persecution in Germany and an Allied war hero abroad. Yet a German Administrative court ruling denied a claim for restitution of the estates on the basis that it saw no connection between persecution and loss. In doing so they have effectively upheld the validity of these Nazi property transfer documents, despite them gifting his entire estate to his captors and torturers, who issued them.
Prince Friedrich after relase, following nine months of torture
​
The legal battle, not even possible until the fall of the Berlin Wall, has spanned 28 years and appeal is currently lodged with the German Federal Administrative Court. If it fails, it will progress to the European Court of Human Rights, helmed by Lord Peter Goldsmith QC (Co-Managing Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Chair of European and Asian Litigation, former Attorney General of the U.K. and Ireland). Prince Friedrich III’s grandson is leading the fight for restitution in memory of his father and grandfather.
"The Nazis orchestrated the greatest kleptocracy in modern history. Headed by Heinrich Himmler and his Gestapo/SS, they used mass murder, intimidation, expulsion, slave labour and veiled expropriations, to do so.
For the Federal Republic, heir to the Third Reich and the GDR, to hold onto this kleptocracy by all means is scandalous and morally reprehensible.
And it is therefore entirely hypocritical for modern-day Germany to profess to the outside world it has learnt the lessons from its dark past”
​
Prince Frederick Solms-Baruth