Second Marriage
In late 1933 Petzneck was arrested and jailed by the Austrian government until July 1934. In 1944, he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Dachau concentration camp, until the camp was liberated by the Russians in March 1945. After the war he became the first President of the Austrian Federal Court of Audit.
As Elisabeth renounced her official title of Archduchess to the House of Habsburg at the time of her first marriage, the new Habsburg-laws did not apply to her; she was allowed to stay in Austria and keep her personal possessions. She formally divorced Prince Otto in early 1948, and on 4 May 1948 she and Leopold married in a registry office in Vienna.
When Vienna was liberated by the Red Army, Elisabeth's villa was commandeered and then ransacked by Soviet soldiers. When Hütteldorf became part of the French occupied zone, the villa was occupied by General Bethouart; Elisabeth and Leopold were not allowed to return until 1955, when the Allied occupation ended. By then both were in bad health: Petznek died in July 1956 from a heart attack. Elisabeth, who was wheelchair-bound much of the time due to gout, bred German Shepherds, but became reclusive until her death in 1963.
Read more about this topic: Archduchess Elisabeth Marie Of Austria
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