after count leopold kolowrat had been granted a reprieve by emperor franz joseph i of austria, the family returned to austria-hungary. sascha kolowrat studied at the catholic university of leuven (present-day "katholieke universiteit leuven") in belgium where he became a member of the german catholic fraternity "katholische academische verbindung lovania leuven". he served in the army and was able to speak many european languages. after he had met charles pathé in paris in 1909, he got into cinematography, besides his interests in motorcycle and car racing, aviation and ballooning. in 1909, he privately filmed a car racing at the semmering pass.