Ruling: Association has no claim to access to aristocratic archive

Verdict - Ruling: Association has no claim to access to aristocratic archive

The Gießen Administrative Court has rejected an association's claim for access to the archives of a noble family. According to the ruling, there is no public right of use for the private collection in Büdingen (Wetterau district), the court announced on Wednesday.

The Association for Local History Research had filed a lawsuit demanding access to state-owned parts of the so-called Rentkammerarchiv, which is said to be in the possession of the Ysenburg family. The association demanded that the state of Hesse request the documents from the current owner and make them available to the public.

According to the court, however, archive law only grants the right to use public archive material. The state of Hesse had no access to the Rentkammer archive and was also not obliged to obtain these documents. "The Rentkammer was an official body that was primarily responsible for the landlord's financial administration," the court continued. Among other things, the local history research association deals with the former Ysenburg-Büdingen estate. The ruling from December 8th is not yet legally binding.

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1. The Gießen Administrative Court's decision to deny access to the noble family's archive in Büdingen, Wetterau district, aligns with historical precedents where private collections are not subject to public rights of use.
2. In the past, the Wetterau district's prestigious Ysenburg-Büdingen noble family had managed the Rentkammer, an administrative body responsible for financial management of estates.
3. The Association for Local History Research's bid to access the state-owned parts of the Rentkammerarchiv, currently under control of the Ysenburg family, was met with rejection by the Administrative Court, acknowledging that archive laws grant the right to use public archive material only.
4. Controversially, the Administrative Court's ruling may affect ongoing research on the former Ysenburg-Büdingen estate by the Association for Local History Research, as it does not recognize access to the Rentkammer's private state-owned documents.

Source: www.stern.de