Leopold Baron Popper von Podhragy

Leopold Baron Popper von Podhragy, also known as "Beautiful Poldi", was born in Vienna as the son of the Jewish timber industrialist Alexander Freiherr Popper von Podhragy and his French wife and opera singer Blanche Marchesi and was probably named Leopold in memory of his grandfather Leopold Freiherr Popper von Podhragy. He took part in the First World War as an officer and was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiment No. 88. Infantry Regiment No. 88.

In 1919, he married the opera diva Maria Jeritza, from whose income he lived until he was able to take over his parents' inheritance. In 1924, he and his wife Maria Jeritza bought the run-down Hatzlhof farm in Unternberg in St. Corona am Wechsel and had a Maierhof farm built, as well as Unternberg Castle from 1924 to 1926. He maintained excellent contacts in Austrian domestic politics, for example with Ernst Rüdiger Prince von Starhemberg.

With the occupation of Austria by Hitler's Germany, Leopold Baron Popper von Podhragy was classified as a so-called half-Jew and arrested several times by the Gestapo. On July 15, 1939, he managed to escape to London via Paris. He is sentenced to death in absentia and most of his property is aryanized. His possessions included half of Vienna's Schafberg and a bank. The latter was liquidated by the National Socialists and the assets were passed on to the municipality of Vienna at a very favorable price.

In 1951, Leopold Baron Popper von Podhragy returned to Austria from exile in England. Only a small part of his former fortune was returned to him. He married a second time.

In 1983, the 96-year-old Baron sold Unternberg Castle and his entire estate in St. Corona am Wechsel and moved to Vienna for good.

Leopold Baron Popper von Podhragy died in 1986 at the age of 100.