Ernst Königsgarten was one of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's best fencers. In 1907, he established the Fechtsaal Della Santa fencing club at Schwarzenbergplatz 17 in Vienna's 4th district. He remained unmarried throughout his life, but he had an illegitimate son, Heinrich, with his sister-in-law, who was born in Brno in 1907. In 1916, Ernst Königsgarten moved to Lothringerstraße 3 in Vienna's 1st district, left the Jewish community, and converted to Protestantism. He was considered an active member of Viennese society and was a board member of the Theater in der Josefstadt. An enthusiastic visitor to the Salzkammergut region, he purchased a summer villa at Fischerndorf 59 in Altaussee in August 1919. This was furnished with folk art objects, including peasant and faience bowls, jugs, sculptures, peasant furniture, reverse glass paintings and oil paintings. The inventory consisted of 271 items, which Königsgarten recorded in a list signed in June 1938, in accordance with the 'Regulation on the Declaration of Assets of Jews' of 26 April 1938. In October 1938, presumably in preparation for his escape to Brno, his place of birth and the former headquarters of the family business (a tin and metal goods factory founded  by his father Ignatz), he applied for the export of two paintings and six engravings from his address at Argentinierstraße 2 in Vienna’s 4th district. On 21 November 1938, Königsgarten officially moved out of Vienna to Brno. On 4 May 1940, the Reich Governor of Upper Danube appointed Eduard Beyrer, the director of the Bad Aussee spa, as trustee and provisional administrator of Königsgarten's property, thereby stripping him of control over it. Subsequently, on 21 May 1940, an inventory of the villa's contents was taken on site. In the process, 72 items from the folklore collection and the furnishings were provisionally secured. Together with objects from the Stefan Mautner collection, they were transferred to the local history museum founded by Herbert Seiberl, head of the Central Monument Protection Office. The museum was finally established in the Gasthof zur Blauen Traube in Bad Aussee. On 7 June 1940, Beyrer leased the Königsgarten villa to Christine and Karl Kranzer, who was a chauffeur for August Eigruber, the Gauleiter and Reich Governor of Oberdonau. On 2 October 1940, the Reich Governor of Oberdonau issued a 'sale order', forcing Ernst Königsgarten to sell the property within two weeks. Franz Paral, a master builder and building expert from Linz, set the price at 5,944 Reichsmarks. On 19 May 1941, Karl Kranzer and the Reich Governor's Office for the Upper Danube Region signed the purchase agreement for the villa. However, Herbert Seiberl pointed out that, due to the change of ownership, it was no longer possible to remove a historic stove from the villa.

The ‘Aryanization’ of the villa far below its value led to complaints from neighbours. The property was also encumbered with a mortgage in favour of the Czechoslovakian citizen Rudolf Stiassny. However, he assigned the mortgage in the amount of 150,000 crowns to his long-time employee Johann Schneider, which led to the involvement of the foreign exchange office. All this delayed the transfer of ownership to Karl Kranzer.

Ernst Königsgarten was deported from Brno to Theresienstadt on 5 December 1941 and murdered on 15 January 1942. The Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Prague and Brno then took over the administration and liquidation of his estate. On 10 June 1943, the Emigration Fund for Bohemia and Moravia in Prague informed the Reich Governor of the Upper Danube Region that Ernst Königsgarten's estate had been transferred to the Emigration Fund. In 1944, as part of war-related salvage operations, the Institute for Monument Preservation relocated parts of Königsgarten's collection from his residence in Bad Aussee to the Salzberg in Altaussee. Following the end of the Nazi regime, the property came under the control of the district administration in Gmunden in August 1945.

In accordance with the certificate of inheritance issued by the Altaussee District Court on 4 June 1948, ownership was transferred to Ernst Königsgarten's son and heir, Henry Garton, who was a British citizen. On 20 August 1949, 53 objects were handed over to Wolfgang Branczik, Henry Garton's legal representative, from the Salzberg art depot. The whereabouts of the remaining 19 objects are unclear.