Family Association Gräff-Graeff

Family Association Gräff-Graeff
Formation	2013
Type	Family association
Membership	Gräff, Graeff, De Graeff family lines
Chairman	Matthias Laurenz Gräff
Vice Chairman	Rudolf Gräff jr
Main organ	General assembly
Website	familienverbandgraeff.at

The Family Association Gräff-Graeff (German: Familienverband Gräff-Graeff e.V.) is an organization for descendants of the (De) Graeff families, including the Dutch De Graeff line, alleged descendants of Austrian noble Wolfgang von Graben († 1521) from the dynastic Von Graben family. It was created in 2013 and officially registered in Austria.^[1]

History change

The idea for the creation of a Family Association was thought up by the cousins Senator Andreas Gräff, Doris Bogner-Gräff and Matthias Laurenz Gräff, members of an extramarital branch of the Dutch (De) Graeff family now located in Austria, in order to strengthen the links between the family lines. Following a family reunion in 2013, the founders then wrote to all the Graeffs inside and outside Austria who had been in communication with their immediate family and it was agreed that a Family Association should be created. In the same year the Gräff-Graeff Family Association was officially formed with Matthias Laurenz Gräff as chairman and Rudolf Gräff jr as vice chairman.

Wolfgang von Graben

The Family Association is an organization of the alleged descendants of the Austrian noble Wolfgang von Graben, known by the names Gräff, Graeff, De Graeff, De Graaff respectively.^[2]^[3]^[4] Note: De Graeff was the Dutch spelling of Von Graben during the 14th and 15th century.^[5] The Family Association pursues the following goals: Our Association serves to get to know, communicate, exchange ideas, research and bring together the Graeff families, alleged and claimed natural descendents of the Austrian noble Wolfgang von Graben († 1521).^[6]

The chairmanship and administration of the Family Association must not be confused with the function of a head of the whole family and their different branches. The Association also offers associate Memberships to the partners, children and grandchildren of Graeff members, as well as members of the family of Orsini-Rosenberg, who share the same ancestors as the Graeff family, the Von Graben. 2014 the Association founded branches in The Netherlands and South Africa with official representatives. That same year, members and representatives of the US-families Updegraff and Updegrove were also admitted as associate members into the Family Association. They are descendants from the originally Dutch-German Op den Graeff family, which according to their family tradition also descended from Wolfgang von Graben. The official statement of the family association on the Op den Graeff family states: The origin of the originally german or dutch Op den Graeff family from the von Graben family cannot be proven, since no source is given. This theory is only maintained by their descendants.^[7] The Association has around 150 members. In 2014, on the occasion of 530 years of family Graeff, a reunion took place at Schloss Kornberg in Styria, Austria, the former seat of Wolfgang von Graben. In 2022, Karl von Habsburg, head of the Habsburg-Lorraine family, the former Roman-German and Austrian imperial family, attended a presentation of the family flag with the dates of the anniversary.