Brno does not want to release the Tugendhat villa, a court may decide

Brno - The city of Brno, according to today's official statement from the city council, cannot transfer the rare Tugendhat villa back to the descendants of the original owners, as it is currently owned by the city. They claim that the basic legal prerequisites are not met - the villa is not considered a work of art and the city acquired it through legal means. The council therefore recommended that the city assembly reject the request for transfer. The legal representative of the Tugendhats, Augustin Kouhourek, disagrees with these arguments and claims that the family is prepared to go to court.
The city received a request on December 28 of last year for a gratuitous transfer of the villa as a work of art, according to the law on the remedy of certain property injustices caused by the Holocaust. The Tugendhat villa cannot be considered an artwork that would qualify for transfer, stated city spokesman Pavel Žára after today's council meeting.
The legal representative of the Tugendhats has not yet received a written position from the city. However, he disagrees with the published arguments. "Of course, it is a work of art. The artistic treatment is so exceptional that there can be no doubt about it. The law does not state anywhere that a work of art must be movable," Kohoutek told ČTK.
The Tugendhats' request for a gratuitous transfer also points to an allegedly invalid transfer of the villa to the city's ownership. According to Žára, however, Brno acquired the valuable building listed on the UNESCO list entirely in accordance with the law. Kohoutek now wants to wait for a written response. However, if it is in a similar spirit as today's statement, the Tugendhat family will turn to the relevant court, which will probably be the District Court in Brno.
The villa has been listed as the only Czech building of modern architecture on the UNESCO list since 2001. The building in the residential district of Černá Pole was designed in 1928 by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. According to experts, it is unique in its spatial concept, choice of materials, and furnishings.
Its owners, spouses Gréta and Fritz Tugendhat, came from families of prominent textile entrepreneurs. They lived in the house until 1938, when the family emigrated to Switzerland to escape the Nazis, and later to Venezuela. After the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, the villa was confiscated by the Gestapo in 1940, and in 1945, it was seized as Nazi property by the then Czechoslovak state.
According to the Ministry of Culture, the Tugendhat family did not request the property either between 1945 and 1948, or in the 1990s, nor did they request partial compensation through the Foundation for Holocaust Victims. However, according to ČTK information, the original owners did request the villa after 1945, but the proceedings, which are recorded in the Brno archive, were not completed before February 1948.
Listing on the UNESCO list does not impose any obligations on the owner. The villa is a national cultural monument, and the state can only exercise a right of first refusal in case the city or any other owner wishes to sell the villa. A private owner is legally obligated to properly care for the monument. The city has been preparing a comprehensive reconstruction of the villa and its restoration to its original state for several years. However, preparations are complicated by disputes over the legality of the selection processes.