<Gary Cohn> columbia_university_law@yahoo.com
31-Mar-2008 04:50



Heinz,

Thanks again for all the interesting information. Thanks to you I was able to gather additional 
biographical data on Mr. Franz Wittelsbach Prinz von Bayern and his descendants. In fact, through my former colleagues I was able to   
contact Mr. Waldek, who is the attorney for the above mentioned family. I was able to speak to him today and I got some useful genealogical 
data that may be of interest to you. 

According to Waldek, Franz has a birth certificate issued under the name 
Franz Hans Leopold Maria Wittelsbach, Prinz von Bayern (where Wittelsbach, Prinz von Bayern is a legal surname NOT a title) . 
He served in the Wehrmacht   (1937-1941), in the late 1940 he was removed from all combat duties as a result of Prinzenerlass 
(I am still trying to figure out what that is exactly). He was later arrested by Gestapo and held at the Wittelsbacher Palais  
(Cruel coincidence?) in Munich. Apparently, the police was trying to extract information from him about the whereabouts of leading 
members of the Wittelsbach family. He was later transferred to KZ-Dachau and in January 1941 released and placed under house of arrest in Munich. 
He successfully escaped from the Gestapo custody with  
the help of several high ranking Wehrmacht officers and hid for rest of the war in the 
Protectorate using the identity of his mother’s nephew who died as a child. Franz’ mother Josepha Zapletal (born October 26, 1880) 
was taken into Gestapo custody in May 1941 and was not released until late the same year. She was in extremely poor health as a result of 
torture and malnutrition and died on January 15, 1942. On April 26, 1941, Franz married Miss  Irene Repnak (born December 12, 1919) in 
Zdaunek bei Kremsier. Irene was a daughter of a ''forest ranger'' (a man who took care of Josepha’s forest holdings in Moravia). 
Franz and Irene had 3 kids together. Maria Josepha was born in Ratibor on February 1, 1942. Georg Anders Luitpold Maria Wittelsbach, 
Prinz von Bayern was also born in 
Ratibor on August 28, 1945 (again this is apparently the name on his birth and baptismal certificate) 
and Franz-Anders Georg Luitpold Maria Wittelsbach, Prinz von Bayern born on July 29, 1948 in Jauernig. After further discussing about the 
validity of name, Waldek actually found a copy of Franz-Anders' birth certificate (which is a public record under the new law in the US) 
and confirmed the names on it. He also told me that according to the same document the godparents of Franz-Anders, were Eugen, Prinz von Bayern 
(son of Prince Konrad of Bavaria) and Princess Louise d'Orléans (wife of Prince Alfons of Bavaria) and he was baptized by the future 
Cardinal Leo Scheffczyk. I found that very interesting.

I also mentioned to him your web-page, which I thought is wonderful!!!!! 
Waldek said that he is familiar with it, but also noted that there are some important mistakes in the section on Franz Wittelsbach, 
Prinz von Bayern. Besides the name; he claims Frantisek Zapletal – Franz Zapletal never was an official name of his former client, 
he mentioned the date of death of Franz’ mother was 1942 and not 1941 as stated on the website and in the attached e-mail from 
Miss Bungaard. Also, he noted that Franz’ grandson Markus was not happy that your website suggests that he was engaged in 2002. 
Waldek claims that Markus was never engaged to anyone at all and does not even know who is Miss Christina Brennan... 
Perhaps you need to correct that mistake.

Anyway, once again I want to thank you for all the great help and I will keep you 
posted if I find any new information. I requested some documents from the vital-records office in Washington and I hope to receive a reply soon...


Best,

Gary