British Lawmakers Press Poland on Holocaust Restitution
Image by Getty Images
A group of British parliamentarians is pressing Poland’s prime minister to follow through on a pledge to enact a restitution law for Holocaust victims.
Poland was among 46 nations that signed a 2009 declaration committing to restitution legislation for Holocaust-era property seized by the Nazis, but it has not passed any restitution laws for private property, making it one of only a handful of former Communist countries without such legislation.
“Unfortunately, Poland stands out in its failure to fulfill – or even recognize – its responsibility to victims,” says a letter sent Monday to Prime Minister Donald Tusk and signed by 15 British members of Parliament and 35 lords and baronesses. The primary signatory is Ruth Deech, a Jewish member of Britain’s House of Lords who had grandparents on both sides of her family with substantial property in Poland.
“Poland has a responsibility to elderly Holocaust survivors, their heirs and other victims to return property which was seized by the Nazis or subsequently nationalized by the Communist regimes,” the letter says. “Democratic Poland continues unjustly to benefit from the victims’ private property. Many of these victims and their heirs – both Jews and non-Jews – are British citizens.”
The letter to Tusk was coordinated by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the World Jewish Restitution Organization.
“This is first time that there has ever been such a letter on Holocaust restitution from a parliamentary group in Europe,” said Gideon Taylor, an expert on restitution who used to direct the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) and is now assisting the WJRO on a voluntary basis.
Last November, the secretary of the WJRO, Colette Avital, published an open letter to Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski calling on the country to honor its “unfulfilled commitments” on Holocaust restitution. The letter, which was published in The Jerusalem Post, appeared on the eve of Komorowski’s visit to Israel.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
