Hubertus Czernin (born Hubertus Alexander Felix Franz Maria

Czernin The House of Czernin ( cs, Černínové z Chudenic; german: Czernin von und zu Chudenitz) is a Czech noble family that was one of the oldest and most prominent noble families in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The family is a descendent family of the ...

von und zu Chudenitz; 17 January 1956 – 10 June 2006) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

. Born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

on 17 January 1956 to Felix Theobald Paul Anton Maria Reichsgraf Czernin von und zu Chudenitz (1902–1968) and his wife Franziska née Baronin von Mayer-Gunthof (1926–1987), he helped expose the Nazi past of former

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...

and Austrian President

Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for t ...

Career

He wrote initially for the news weekly '' Wochenpresse''. In 1984 he was hired by the Viennese magazine ''

Profil Profil may refer to: *La Mouette Profil, a French hang glider design *Profil (band), a French musical group *''Profil (literary magazine)'', a Norwegian literary magazine *''profil (magazine)'', an Austrian news magazine * ''Profil (Russian magaz ...

'', eventually becoming its editor. Czernin's investigation of Cardinal

Hans Hermann Groër Hans Hermann Wilhelm Groër OSB (13 October 1919 – 24 March 2003) was an Austrian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Vienna from 1986 to 1995, and became a cardinal in 1988. Pope John Paul II replaced him as arch ...

revealed that he had had sex with over 2,000 young men, starting in the 1950s and ending in the 1990s. Czernin was the first journalist to gain access to records at the Austrian Gallery in Vienna and, in 1998, published a series of articles about the ownership of five famous paintings from artist Gustav Klimt, proving that claims by Austria that they had been donated to the gallery by Ferdinand or

Adele Bloch-Bauer Adele Bloch-Bauer (née Bauer; August 9, 1881 – January 24, 1925) was Viennese socialite, salon hostess, and patron of the arts from Austria-Hungary. A Jewish woman, she is most well known for being the subject of two of artist Gustav Klimt's ...

were false. The articles led to the passage of Austria's Art Restitution Law, which allowed the family of

Maria Altmann Maria Altmann (née Maria Victoria Bloch, later Bloch-Bauer; February 18, 1916 – February 7, 2011) was an Austrian-American Jewish refugee from Austria, who fled her home country after it was annexed to the Third Reich. She is noted for her u ...

, the niece of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, along with Altmann's lawyer E. Randol Schoenberg, to pursue claims successfully to the Klimt paintings that had been looted from her uncle during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(see

Republic of Austria v. Altmann ''Republic of Austria v. Altmann'', 541 U.S. 677 (2004), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, or FSIA, applies retroactively. It is one of the most recent cases that deals wi ...

). A

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruling allowed Altmann to sue the Austrian government for ownership of the multimillion dollar Klimt paintings in the United States. Hundreds of families had

looted art Looted art has been a consequence of looting during war, natural disaster and riot for centuries. Looting of art, archaeology and other cultural property may be an opportunistic criminal act or may be a more organized case of unlawful or unet ...

restored to them, or restitution made, under the new law. Czernin was married twice, first to Cristina Teresa Countess Szapáry de Muraszombath Széchysziget et Szapár in 1979 (first cousin to Cristina von Reibnitz,

Princess Michael of Kent Princess Michael of Kent (born Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, 15 January 1945) is a member of the British royal family of German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian descent. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, ...

), ending in divorce in 1981. By his second marriage, to Valerie Countess von Baratta-Dragona, in 1984, he became the father of three daughters. He died in Vienna of

mastocytosis Mastocytosis, a type of mast cell disease, is a rare disorder affecting both children and adults caused by the accumulation of functionally defective mast cells (also called ''mastocytes'') and CD34+ mast cell precursors. People affected by mas ...

at the age of 50. Czernin was portrayed by actor

Daniel Brühl Daniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo (; born 16 June 1978) is a Spanish-German actor and filmmaker. He received his first German Film Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' Das Weisse Rauschen (The White Sound)'' (2001), ''Nichts ...

in the 2015 film '' Woman in Gold''.

Works

*Hubertus Czernin. ''Die Fälschung: Der Fall Bloch-Bauer und das Werk Gustav Klimts''. Czernin Verlag, Vienna 2006.

References

External links

"Adele's Wish", documentary film on the Bloch-Bauer court case (Republic of Austria v. Altmann)

Obituary at LA Times

Career

Works

References

Further reading

External links

See also