Wittelsbach Compensation Fund

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The Wittelsbach Compensation Fund ( WAF ) is a foundation under public law whose proceeds go to the members of the House of Wittelsbach, which used to rule Bavaria . It was founded by a Bavarian law on March 9, 1923 as part of the property dispute between the House of Wittelsbach and the Free State of Bavaria .

Emergence

The WAF was created as a result of the November Revolution of 1918 , which ended the monarchy in Bavaria . As early as the beginning of the 19th century, the Wittelsbachers had transferred their property to the then financially poor state in accordance with the domanial fideikommisspragmatik of Elector Max IV. Joseph of Bavaria from 1804 and the Bavarian constitution from 1818 . In return, the state had taken over the supply of the Wittelsbachers and regulated them in the constitutional law on the civil list in 1834 .

After the revolution of 1918, attempts were made to separate Bavarian state assets and Wittelsbach household assets. The properties on the civil list administered by the chief court officers were considered state property by the Free State. With the help of the constitutional law teacher Konrad Beyerle , the Wittelsbachers tried in 1921 to prove that they had only brought their household property into the state assets against a pension claim and that in Bavaria a separation of state and household assets had to be carried out in the first place. In 1923 a compromise was found, which was incorporated into a law of March 9, 1923: According to this, the former assets from King Ludwig I's home property fideikommiss and parts of the properties from King Otto I's property did not return directly to the Wittelsbach family, but rather flowed into the newly established foundation . At the same time, the Wittelsbach family voluntarily pledged to bring additional private assets, especially art treasures, into the fund with the determination to make them permanently accessible to the public. Thus, the first purpose of the WAF was established to preserve the cultural heritage of the House of Wittelsbach. In addition to the WAF, the head of the House of Wittelsbach, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, set up the Wittelsbach State Foundation for Art and Science , which became the owner of the Wittelsbach art treasures acquired before the establishment of the House and State Fideikommiss in 1804. Since then, the Wittelsbacher Landesstiftung has owned, if not the administrator, of a large part of the holdings of the Munich museums.

On the basis of this law, the House of Wittelsbach permanently waived all further property claims against the state. This means that the state did not have to hand over any assets to family members, nor did the Free State have to commit to future maintenance payments. The second purpose of the foundation is derived from this: Since then, it has been the case that only the income generated from the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund and no support from the Free State of Bavaria contribute to the permanent economic provision of the members of the Wittelsbach family.

legal form

The WAF is a foundation under public law . The Bavarian state government has made more detailed provisions on the establishment of the administration of the fund and its maintenance. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the fund's board of directors to ensure the undiminished preservation of the foundation's assets. This obligation is derived from the WAF Act and the Bavarian Foundation Act.

capital

The foundation's assets include:

From 1975 to October 1, 2011, the WAF leased the Nymphenburg porcelain factory from the Free State of Bavaria.

According to the annual financial statements as of September 30, 2018, the fund's total assets were around EUR 444 million.

The Wittelsbach Compensation Fund does not include the Wittelsbach State Foundation for Art and Science or the private assets of the members of the Wittelsbach family, including the property of the former ducal line (dukes in Bavaria) with the Tegernsee monastery and the Tegernsee ducal Bavarian brewery , the Wildbad Kreuth and the estates the former Banz monastery , as well as the Wildenwart , Leutstetten and Kaltenberg castles (with the König Ludwig Kaltenberg Castle Brewery ).

The castles Neuschwanstein , Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee are also not part of the WAF's assets , as they were allocated to the state when the estate of King Otto I of Bavaria was divided.

administration

The Foundation's general management is located in Munich-Bogenhausen and consists of around 15 employees.

The management of the fund is led by a board of directors consisting of up to eight members appointed by the respective head of the Wittelsbach house (currently - as of January 2020 - Duke Franz von Bayern ); These are (as of January 2020): Nikolaus von Bomhard (Chairman), Bernd Pischetsrieder (Deputy Chairman), Marcus Freiherr von Bechtolsheim, Joachim Faber , Albrecht Fürst zu Oettingen-Spielberg and Franz-Christoph Zeitler . The members of the Board of Directors are appointed for five years.

Two representatives of the science and finance ministries , the so-called state commissioners, supervise the foundation at the meetings of the board of directors. Your job is to oversee the orderly management of the fund and the preservation of its assets.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: A fund for Bavaria's former rulers. Retrieved February 7, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Answer of the State Ministry of Finance, for Regional Development and Homeland of July 14, 2014 to the written request of the MPs Claudia Stamm, Thomas Mütze BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN of June 6, 2014 regarding Wittelsbach compensation fund
  3. ↑ a b www.waf-bayern.de/stiftungsverwaltung