When the National Socialists took power in March 1938, a fundamental problem arose for the Rath family from Lavanttal: Mother Maria Rath was of “Jewish descent”. Your share in Gut Farrach in the village of the same name near Maria Rojach was to be confiscated. Maria Rath’s mother, Rosa Spira, paid for the mortgage on the estate. In February 1939, it was agreed that Mrs. Spira should give her son-in-law Wilhelm Rath the mortgage “as a gift” in order to ensure the preservation of the property. In order to save her mother-in-law’s “Jewish capital” from being declared and confiscated by the state, Rosa Spira “gifted” her entire fortune to her daughter’s husband. For the same purpose, Maria Rath “gifted” her half of the estate to her husband. In his letter dated February 28, 1939, Wilhelm Rath wrote to the property transaction office in the Ministry of Labor and Economics: “The Spira family, although of Jewish race, was so minded and politically active that they can be treated on an equal footing with German national comrades.”
–
–
