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A New Idea
In Famil y
RECLAIM LAND/page 1
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Paid for by The Committee To
"Justice Riley's
record is exemplary.
/ Her opinions show
proper deference to
the Legislature's law
making function and
the needsof the
executive branch in
maintaining order."
-10/11/92
upreme!
RE-ELECT JUSTICE RILEY TO THE MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT
Box2457. Mired. Mictugan. Charles A Rutherford. Treasurer
ciety) and a cemetery, whose
gravestones date to 1772.
Humenne, like the rest of
Slovakia, was part of Hungary
until the creation of
Czechoslovakia in 1918.
By 1941, the Humenne
Jewish population numbered
2,172. Among the city's most
prominent figures was a busi-
nessman named Chaim
Rosenbluth.
Mr. Rosenbluth was a self-
made man who invested heav-
ily in land. He took on two
partners, then bought thou-
sands of mountainous forest
acreage, where he established
a lumber trade, supplying busi-
nesses throughout Europe.
Eugene Kraus still remem-
bers the logs rolling down icy
hills in the winter and the
horse-drawn wagons that
would tote them away.
Mr. Rosenbluth saw to it that
his wife, children and grand-
children had the best of every-
thing. His son-in-law, Moric
Kraus, Eugene's father, also in-
vested in land, in an area that
would later be appropriated by
the Soviet Union.
An Orthodox Jew dedicat-
ed to his community, Mr.
Rosenbluth also was well-es-
tablished in the secular world.
Eugene Kraus has a photo of
his grandfather, standing at the
forefront of the funeral proces-
sion of Czechoslovakia founder
Tomas Masaryk, on a dark and
rainy day in September 1937.
Mr. Rosenbluth died in 1940.
His surviving family was
shipped to Nazi death camps.
Eugene, still a child, was in
six different camps, including
Auschwitz and Dachau. He sur-
vived by serving as an inter-
preter for the Germans. Raised
in a privileged home, he had
studied several languages as a
young boy.
Eugene's mother died in
Bergen-Belsen 10 days before
the war ended. The rest of the
family — Eugene's father,
brother and sister — survived
and immigrated to America,
settling in Detroit in 1949.
"This is how I came," Mr.
Kraus says, pointing to his
white shirt. "The clothes I was
wearing was all I had."
Eugene's father opened a
butcher shop, Kraus Meat
Market, in Detroit. Eugene be-
came a real-estate developer.
Both always remembered their
land back in Czechoslovakia,
but were certain they would
never get it back. The
Communists were in control.
Then the unthinkable hap-
pened. The Soviet Union broke
up and Czechoslovakia declared
itself a free nation, headed by
Vaclav Havel. Mr. Kraus de-
cided to look into reclaiming his
property.
He appealed directly to the
Czech government, where bu-
reaucrats gave him "a
headache, so much playing
around with semantics.
"First they tell us, 'To claim
property you must be a Czech
citizen,' " Mr. Kraus says. 'Then
they say, 'You have to have res-
idency in Czechoslovakia."
When Mr. Kraus became an
American citizen, he renounced
his Czech citizenship. But it
was easy enough to get it back.
He called the Czechoslovakian
embassy in Washington. The
ambassador told him, "If you
can prove you left before 1956,
you can reapply for citizenship."
But Mr. Kraus was not will-
ing to move back to his boyhood
home. So he hired attorneys,
both in Czechoslovakia and the
United States, to start work on
the case.
Because he still has his
grandfather's original deed, be-
cause Czechoslovakia is now a
free country, because there is a
precedent of sorts (two years
ago, a former Czechoslovakian
— a Christian businessman in
New Jersey — reclaimed $11
million in property seized from
him during World War II), Mr.
Kraus is optimistic that he will
win his case. But he knows it
won't be easy.
"I expect a major battle," he
says.
His first problem will be fig-
uring out exactly with whom
he must battle. On Jan. 1,
Czechoslovakia will split. With
Vaclav Havel, Mr. Kraus felt he
had a good chance. He's not so
sure about the as-yet-unnamed
leader of the new Slovakia.
Then there's the whole issue
of reclaiming property. A
spokesman for the Czech em-
bassy said the country "does not
have the responsibility" for re-
turning confiscated lands.
Mr. Kraus does have his
backers, though, including the
descendants of his grandfather's
two partners (who reside in var-
ious cities throughout the
United States, Canada and
Israel), who have given him
power of attorney. If they win,
they will split the land equally
between the families.
Despite the odds, Mr. Kraus
remains determined. "If I have
to," he says, "Ill take this to an
international court."
He remembers when his chil-
dren — now all grown — were
small. He used to tell them
about his grandfather and his
home back in Czechoslovakia.
"It's theirs, they should have
it," he says of the land. "I never
signed any deed turning over
my property to the Nazis. I nev-
er signed any deed turning it
over to the Communists.
"We want what's ours back,"
he says. "And sooner or later,
they have to respect our
claim."
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