Rothschilds Sell Last Piece of Austrian Empire After 200 YearsBy Matthias Wabl Bloomberg ‎ January , 25 , 2019 The family was once the top financier of the Habsburg empire Deal said to value Austrian forest at more than $ 100 million The Langau Estate . Photographer : Klaus Bischof It ’ s the end of an era for the Rothschilds in Austria . Once the Habsburg empire ’ s top financier , the family that started to do business in Vienna around 1815 is selling its last piece of land in Austria , closing a 200 - yearlong history that included booms , busts , crashes and wars . The family branch represented by heir Bettina Burr has agreed to sell two trusts that own about 7 , 000 hectares ( 17 , 300 acres ) of forest in the Lower Austria region to the Vienna - based packaging firm Prinzhorn Holding GmbH , according to three people familiar with the deal , who requested anonymity since the transaction has yet to be added to the land register . The forest -- about 20 times the size of New York ’ s Central Park -- is part of an estate Baron Albert von Rothschild bought in 1875 . The Nazis seized the land after Germany occupied Austria in 1938 , and it was partially returned to the family after World War II . Rothschild heir Bettina Looram moved back to live there until her death in 2012 . Two branches of the family then split the estate , and both will now been have sold to Prinzhorn , which bought the adjacent forest a year ago . “ This brings an ambivalent 200 - year relationship to an end , ” Roman Sandgruber , a historian who last year authored the book , “ Rothschild -- The Rise and Fall of a Cosmopolitan Viennese Family , ” said in an interview . “ The Habsburgs respected the family , elevated them to nobility as they benefited from their finance knowledge . The Catholic Habsburgs , however , always kept a certain distance from the Jewish Rothschild family . ” Vienna BeginningsFrankfurt - based Mayer Amschel Rothschild in the early 19 th century sent his five sons to various capitals across Europe to do business with cash - strapped governments dealing with railway construction , revolutions and wars . The family split its main branches between Vienna , Paris , Naples , London and Frankfurt , supporting Europe ’ s most powerful royals . Salomon Rothschild started to do business in Vienna around 1815 . The family quickly became the Habsburg empire ’ s biggest financier , invested in railways and iron works and turned within decades into the country ’ s biggest landowner . Jews weren ’ t allowed to buy houses in Vienna at the time , so Salomon had to stay “ at the best inn in town , the Hotel zum Roemischen Kaiser . ” The family in 1843 was allowed to buy houses after it became indispensable for the Emperor . Salomon ’ s grandson , Albert , was considered Europe ’ s richest man in 1910 . The FallSalomon RothschildSource : Rothschild ArchiveThe family ’ s fortunes turned in the global economic crisis of the 1930 s , when its bank Creditanstalt collapsed in what was then the biggest crash in Habsburg history and had to be taken over by the state . The family head , Louis , had to shed property , cut costs at his estates , fire staff and spend less on representation and the arts . A more violent blow came when the Nazis occupied Austria and expropriated the family ’ s assets . Louis died while swimming at Montego bay in the Caribbean in 1955 . To the surprise of his family , he asked to be buried in Vienna . After the war and the restitution of some assets , Rothschild heirs , except for Louis ’ s daughter Bettina Looram , spent little time in Austria . The last Rothschild working for an Austrian bank was Geoffrey Hoguet , who worked for Creditanstalt ’ s investment bank until 1997 . Creditanstalt ’ s iconic headquarters was sold by UniCredit Bank Austria AG in 2014 and is currently being turned into a high - end supermarket . Burr , Looram ’ s daughter , in 2015 donated to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts works that had been looted by the Nazis and returned to the family . Austria and the family made their peace in the last few decades , Sandgruber said . “ The relationship between the family and Austria was not the easiest one , but there was some sort of mutual appreciation after the final art restitutions about 20 years ago , ” he said . Prinzhorn ’ s PlansThe buyer of the second Rothschild property , Cord Prinzhorn , will be reuniting the two family forests . He bought the smaller part , measuring 5 , 400 hectares , last year for 92 million euros ( $ 105 million ) . The price of the second part of the forest is a bit higher than the first , according to two of the people . Prinzhorn Holding declined to comment . Efforts to reach Bettina Burr through phone numbers listed in the phone directory were unsuccessful . A hunting lodge sits on Langau Estate . Photographer : Klaus BischofPrinzhorn started with a small paper mill in Pitten , about an hour south of Vienna , in 1853 . Cord Prinzhorn ’ s father built the company into a European player after taking it over in the 1970 s , and the company is now expanding across Europe and into countries such as Turkey . The forest Prinzhorn is buying is full of historic lodges that were built about 120 years ago , and is in one of the most popular hiking , fishing and nature - rich areas around Vienna . While Prinzhorn has said he sees the forests as a long - term asset and a renewable source of a raw material , he also wants to preserve the historic buildings and maintain the lands as spaces for animals and for people to hike , fish or just enjoy the outdoors .