His father owned numerous palaces in Vienna, including the Palais Albert Rothschild, that housed exquisite art collections and antiques.

[5] He was released only after lengthy negotiations between the family and the Nazis and upon payment of $21,000,000, believed to have been the largest kidnap ransom in history for any individual.

[7] Despite appeals from Queen Mary of the United Kingdom and possibly the Duke of Windsor, Rothschild was held in Vienna's Hotel Metropole while the German government attempted to expropriate his business concerns.

[9] Felix Somary, in his memoirs,[10] recalls that, soon before the Anschluss, he phoned to the baron repeatedly, in a desperate attempt to convince him to leave Austria.

[12] In 2020, in one of the largest ever restitution claims filed, Rothschild heirs sued Vienna over a trust seized by Nazis.