Imagine that instead of chucking it into the recycling bin within milliseconds of pulling it out of the mailbox, you actually opened the Publisher’s Clearinghouse envelope.
Now imagine that the statement “You may already be a multimillionaire!” was accurate. You won.
Now imagine that, in addition to providing incredible material wealth, the envelope also revealed unknown and, frankly, disturbing family details.
This is no fantasy for Los Altos’ Chris Andrews.
The 49-year-old consultant and businessman and his 53-year-old brother, Rich, a tennis coach and former player living in Folsom, were notified in 2001 by a German bank that they were the rightful owners of a six-story, 100-room building in one of Vienna’s tonier districts.
And, by they way — he and his family were told they’re Jewish.
“No, we didn’t know anything about that,” said Chris Andrews about his family’s Jewish roots.
“When we were growing up, our mother would say from time to time that the Jewish people were our friends. I remember that distinctly,” added Rich Andrews, a practicing Catholic.
The building is currently owned by the Austrian government, which has not been willing to hand over the keys.
After years of legal wrangling, an Austrian panel ruled in favor of the Andrews brothers in mid-November. The building, known as Schmidgasse 14, is currently leased by the U.S. government and houses the U.S. embassy. It is likely worth many, many millions of dollars.
The Andrews brothers’ mother, Betty Redlich, never told them she was Jewish and had escaped her native Austria shortly before Hitler returned home to great fanfare. And she certainly never told them about the high-end health clinic in Schmidgasse 14 operated by her cousin, Lothar Furth, who killed himself during the German occupation. The brothers discovered all this in their research during the last four years.
Redlich killed herself in the early 1970s, and the Andrews brothers grew up with family friends and, later, their father in Connecticut.
The whole odyssey has been “very introspective” for Chris Andrews.
“It’s a very deep experience. It hits on all sides. The building really is a symbol of a lot of good things and a lot of terrible things that have happened not only in Austria but all over the world.
“There’s wars and suicide. But I love the fact that it was a health clinic.”
Chris Andrews has also come to embrace his newfound Judaism, and has had many discussions with Stanford Hillel’s Rabbi Joey Felsen, whom he refers to as “my rabbi.” He has long been an adherent of “Eastern religions,” and says Judaism offers “no conflicts.”
The possible huge financial windfall is not lost on the Andrews brothers, who, at times, required food stamps after their mother’s death. But money wasn’t what fueled their efforts to recover a property they feel is rightfully theirs.
“My brother and I always felt that what we’re doing is greater than ourselves,” said Chris Andrews.
“We’re doing this for people who can’t talk anymore.”
If and when the brothers formally assume control of the building, they’re not entirely sure what they’ll do with it. They’d love to convert it into a hotel with a tribute to their relatives and others on the ground floor. Or perhaps they’ll make it available as office space to nonprofit organizations working for peace. Or maybe they’ll house a health clinic in Schmidgasse 14 once again.
One tenant they’re not interested in is the U.S. government, however.
After Furth’s suicide, the building was taken over by the Germans and, later, the Austrians. The Andrews brothers are incensed that the U.S. government has been knowingly occupying a building seized from Jews while pushing the Austrians to compensate the relatives of Holocaust victims.
“Either you’re for restitution or you aren’t. You can’t have programs to hold the Austrians responsible when they’ve stayed so long in that building themselves,” said Chris Andrews.
“For 50 years, they’ve known it’s not appropriate to be in that building. I think I’d sit outside that building until they leave.”