‘Russian’ archive boxes, formerly containing archives and papers of the Viennsese Rothschild family.
In 1994, The Rothschild Archive took custody of a collection of over 40,000 papers which for fifty years had lain preserved in The Moscow State Archives. The documents, contained in boxes such as these, were the surviving papers of the bank S M von Rothschild, founded in Vienna by Salomon von Rothschild (1774-1855). These documents represent the history of a branch of the family which had been at the centre of Austrian business and society for over a century.
Confiscated by the Nazis in 1939, and stored in Berlin, in 1943, the papers were taken to the Castle of Wölfelsdorf in Poland. In early 1945, the Red Army discovered them, and shipped them to Moscow. In 1946, the Soviet Government established the Central State Special Archive to house papers captured during the War. Access was limited until the early 1990s when agreements were reached with the Governments of France, Liechtenstein and Great Britain for the repatriation of papers previously stored in the Special Archive. After negotaition, the papers of the Viennese Rothschilds were returned to the family, who deposited them with The Rothschild Archive in London.
