Jakob Eltz, who died on February 10 aged 84, represented a link between modern Europe and the Habsburg Empire; in the 1990s he played an important part in the establishment of Croatia as an independent democratic state.
Johann Jakob Eltz was born at Kleinheubach, Germany, on September 22 1921 into an illustrious Roman Catholic family. In the 16th century his namesake and ancestor, Jakob zu Eltz (1510-1591) was one of the most important Prince Electors in the archbishopric of Trier and also a leading champion of the Counter Reformation.
In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Philipp Karl zu Eltz became Prince Elector and Archbishop of Mainz, as well as primate of the Catholic Church in Germany and Archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. As a result of their service during the Reformation and the stand which they took against the Turks, in 1733 the senior line of the Eltz family was raised to the position of Counts of the Empire by Charles VI.
When his father died in a car crash in 1922, the one-year-old Jakob inherited properties in Germany and Croatia. These included the castle of Eltz on the Rhine and estates in western Slavonia and around Vukovar. The lordship of Vukovar had been acquired in 1736 and Eltz Castle in Vukovar remained the family's principal seat until the end of the Second World War.
Jakob was brought up in Vukovar and was 18 when war broke out. A devout Catholic, he refused to join the Nazi party and held aloof from the war effort, even though as a prominent landowner in Germany he came under intense pressure to conform.
He prevaricated until 1944 when, as the Nazis consolidated their hold over Croatia, he was summoned by the SS to be told that if he did not join them he would face imprisonment. Just before their deadline expired in late 1944, he joined the Wehrmacht, thus escaping their clutches. By this time the Germans were in retreat.
After Tito consolidated Communist rule in Yugoslavia, the Eltz properties were expropriated and he went to live at Eltville, his home in West Germany on the Rhine. There he managed his own vineyards and became a professor of viticulture at Mainz University. He also took on much charitable work. He was a deputy of the Knights of Malta and helped with the order's central administration in Rome. From 1946 he was a frequent visitor to Lourdes, often leading groups of the sick.
After Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, Eltz was asked to return to Vukovar to help the new country make the transition to democracy. He was there during the seige of Vukovar when, in spite of his advanced age, he played an active part in the city's defence armed with a Kalashnikov. Eltz Castle was destroyed in the Serb bombardment. When Croatia held its first parliamentary elections in 1992, he was persuaded to stand as a candidate for Vukovar. He did so as an independent and was returned with an overwhelming majority.
He served as a member of the Croatian parliament in Zagreb until 1999 and was prominent in pressing for Croatia and other Balkan states to be allowed to join the European Union, not primarily for the economic benefits, but for the peace and stability he believed membership would help to guarantee.
During these years he was also a member of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe where he was held in such high regard that, after his retirement from the Croatian parliament, he was asked to continue as an honorary member in his own right. He was a member of the Habsburg Order of the Golden Fleece.
Jakob Eltz is survived by his wife Ladislaja and their nine children, and is succeeded by his eldest son, Dr Karl Eltz.
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