The 13 March 1938 Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany marked the forced end of the Rothschild's business in Austria. Because he was Jewish, Baron Louis von Rothschild, head of the bank at the time, was held in prison for a year and only released after a substantial ransom was paid by his family. After Baron Louis was stripped of his Austrian citizenship and allowed to leave the country empty-handed, in March 1939 the Nazis placed the firm of S M von Rothschild under compulsory administration and then sold it to the German private bank Merck, Finck &amp; Co. in October of that year, and S.M.v Rothschild became E.v. Nicolai &amp; Co. After the Allies occupied Austria, Louis Rothschild asserted a claim to recover "Südosttextil Gesellschaft m.b.H.", a company that had been founded by E.v. Nicolai &amp; Co. on January 29th, 1942.