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| == Background == | == Background == | ||
| Poland had a pre-war Jewish population was 3.3 million, and stolen{{fact}} Jewish property is estimated to be valued in billions of dollars. |
Poland had a pre-war Jewish population was 3.3 million, and stolen{{fact}} Jewish property is estimated to be valued in billions of dollars. Restitution of Jewish property in Poland would also potentially set a legal precedent for other groups in Poland whose property was confiscated, namely the nobility and churches.<ref name="JTA20190125"/> While some claimants were able to recover property in post-communist Poland, the process in Poland is filled with fraud and injustice.<ref name="AP20180510"/> In a case, described by restitution activists as indicative of systemic failures in Poland, a 97 year old Holocaust survivor litigating for restitution of her family's assets in ] was declared dead by Łódź city authorities who also pronounced her heiress, this despite a decades long effort to recover the property.<ref name="JTA20190125"/> | ||
| The ] from 2009, to which 47 countries are signatories,<ref name="JPost2018051"/> states that protection of property rights is part of the rule of law and an essential feature of democratic societies. The declaration recognizes the importance of property restitution or compensation in regards to property confiscated ruing the ] era between 1933 and 1945.<ref name="JTA2071206">, JTA, 6 December 2017</ref> According to ] and ], the Senate sponsors of the bill, while several countries{{which}} have endorsed the declaration they have not actually implemented the required restitution.<ref name="JTA2071206"/> | The ] from 2009, to which 47 countries are signatories,<ref name="JPost2018051"/> states that protection of property rights is part of the rule of law and an essential feature of democratic societies. The declaration recognizes the importance of property restitution or compensation in regards to property confiscated ruing the ] era between 1933 and 1945.<ref name="JTA2071206">, JTA, 6 December 2017</ref> According to ] and ], the Senate sponsors of the bill, while several countries{{which}} have endorsed the declaration they have not actually implemented the required restitution.<ref name="JTA2071206"/> | ||
Revision as of 04:40, 15 April 2019
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| Long title | An Act to require reporting on acts of certain foreign countries on Holocaust era assets and related issues. |
|---|---|
| Enacted by | the 115th United States Congress |
| Effective | 9 May 2018 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub. L. 115–171 (text) (PDF) |
| Legislative history | |
| |
The Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017 (Pub. L. 115–171 (text) (PDF),S. 447 (and identical H.R. 1226)) requires the State Department to report to congress on steps that 47 countries in Europe, signatories of the 2009 Terezin Declaration, have taken to compensate Holocaust survivors and their heirs for assets seized by Nazi Germany and post-war communist governments.
The bill does not provide the US with any enforcement power, only requiring reporting to Congress. While the bill does not single out any particular country, Poland is the sole state in Europe that has not passed legislation compensating former owners of property and the Polish government sees itself as the target of the law.
Background
Poland had a pre-war Jewish population was 3.3 million, and stolen Jewish property is estimated to be valued in billions of dollars. Restitution of Jewish property in Poland would also potentially set a legal precedent for other groups in Poland whose property was confiscated, namely the nobility and churches. While some claimants were able to recover property in post-communist Poland, the process in Poland is filled with fraud and injustice. In a case, described by restitution activists as indicative of systemic failures in Poland, a 97 year old Holocaust survivor litigating for restitution of her family's assets in Łódź was declared dead by Łódź city authorities who also pronounced her heiress, this despite a decades long effort to recover the property.
The Terezin Declaration from 2009, to which 47 countries are signatories, states that protection of property rights is part of the rule of law and an essential feature of democratic societies. The declaration recognizes the importance of property restitution or compensation in regards to property confiscated ruing the Holocaust era between 1933 and 1945. According to Tammy Baldwin and Marco Rubio, the Senate sponsors of the bill, while several countries have endorsed the declaration they have not actually implemented the required restitution.
Provisions
The bill requires the State Department to report to congress on steps that 47 countries in Europe, signatories of the 2009 Terezin Declaration, have taken to compensate Holocaust survivors and their heirs for assets seized by Nazi Germany and post-war communist governments. The bill also requires specific reporting on restitution to Holocaust survivors who are US citizens or their relatives.
Reactions
In March 2018, 59 US Senators sent a bipartisan letter to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, stating that draft legislation in Poland would discriminate against Holocaust survivors in the United States. The proposed Polish bill would require claimants to reside in Poland as Polish citizens, and would exclude heirs that are not "first-line heirs". The Polish bill was subsequently withdrawn.
In April 2018, a protest led by National Movement's president Robert Winnicki was held in front of the US embassy in Warsaw, Winnicki saying that "The Jews will not get a penny from us". A Polish-American group, including Richard Widerynski who is the former president of the Polish American Congress of Southern California lobbied against law, saying on their website that demands for restitution are "illegitimate extortion attempts". On 31 March 2019 hundreds of Polish nationalists protested in Foley Square in New York against the restitution bill. Some of the protesters carried antisemitic signs, and engaged in Holocaust denial rhetoric.
References
- ^ Trump signs Holocaust property law that has angered Poland, AP (TOI reprint), 10 May 2018
- ^ Trumps Signs Act Strengthening Holocaust Restitution Efforts, 10 May 2018, Jerusalem Post
- ^ Lily Widner, 97, survived the Holocaust and much more. Why does Poland say she’s dead?, JTA, 25 January 2019
- ^ Senate committee advances restitution bill for Holocaust survivors, JTA, 6 December 2017
- House passes bill to help Holocaust survivors obtain restitution, seized assets, JTA (TOI reprint), 25 April 2018
- 59 US senators protest Holocaust restitution bill in Poland, JTA, 26 March 2018
- Polish nationalists protest outside US Embassy against Holocaust restitution, JTA (TOI reprint), 26 April 2018
- Trump signs law to help Holocaust victims reclaim lost property, JTA, 10 May 2018
- NATIONALIST PROTESTERS TAKE OVER NEW YORK SQUARE AS POLISH ANTI-SEMITIC DEBATE SPREADS TO U.S., Newsweek, 1 April 2019
- Protesters carry antisemitic signs at anti-Holocaust law demonstration in New York, Jewish Chronicle, 2 April 2019