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Reparations Fight

Poland is backing away from compensation claims.

Stewart Ain
New York Jewish Week

New York

ewish organizations in the U.S.
are promising to mount a major
fight — exerting political and
diplomatic pressure — to prevent the
Polish government from abandoning its
compensation of Jews and others whose
private property was stolen by the Nazis
and then confiscated by the Communists.
"We're going to meet with the WJRO
[World Jewish Restitution Organization]
to decide what appropriate diplomatic
channels to pursue,' said Elan Steinberg,
vice president of the New York-based
American Gathering of Holocaust
Survivors and their Descendants.
The World Jewish Restitution
Organization is an umbrella group that
works with European governments to
obtain restitution for private and commu-
nal Holocaust-era Jewish property.
Steinberg said he
expects that there
would be talks with
Polish authorities
about the March
decision to suspend
work on restitution
legislation that had
been expected to be
Elan Steinberg
submitted this year
to the Polish legisla-
ture for approval.
In announcing that work would be
stopped on the legislation, Poland's state
treasury said the decision stemmed from
the "current economic situation:'
The announcement came as a surprise
in light of the 2008 promise by Poland's
Prime Minister Donald Tusk that "all
Polish citizens from before World War II,
whether they be ethnically Polish, Jewish,
Ukrainian or German" would receive res-
titution for their properties nationalized

j

by the Communist
regime.
Steinberg said no
decisions have been
made yet, but that
the Jewish communi-
ty could bring "polit-
ical and economic
Michael
pressure" to bear on
Schneider
Poland — tactics
that have proven suc-
cessful in the past in persuading European
governments to live up to their Holocaust-
era responsibilities.
He even held out the possibility of a
boycott of Poland, should that become
necessary.
In its statement, Poland's state treasury
said that if the legislation were to become
effective next year, "the public debt would
grow by 18 billion zloty ($6.2 billion) and
the ratio of public debt to gross domestic
product (GDP) would grow by some 1.0 to
1.1 percentage points."
Were that to happen, the Polish govern-
ment said compensation payouts "could
make Poland exceed the public debt
ceiling" of 60 percent of GDP, which is
required by the European Union for coun-
tries wishing to join
the single currency,
the euro.
But Steinberg dis-
missed that claim,
saying that Poland
"has one of the better
economies of central
and Eastern Europe."
Ronald Lauder
"Poverty is no
excuse for stealing
property,' he said. "Poland should fund the
compensation with other cuts, not on the
backs of Holocaust survivors:'
And Steinberg pointed out that when
Poland joined the European Union, it
pledged in its admission application to
undertake its "solemn obligation with
respect to the confiscation of illegally

Dutch To Vote On Law To Ban Kosher Slaughter

LONDON (JTA) — The head of the
European Jewish Congress called on the
Dutch prime minister to re-examine
a proposed law that would ban kosher
slaughter.

30

.2 011

The Dutch Parliament was sched-
uled to vote this week on the leg-
islation, an amendment to the
Commercial Slaughter Code which
mandates that all animals for corn-

seized property."
Another Jewish official pointed out that
had Poland wanted to live up to its com-
mitment, it would have announced that
compensation would be paid out over a
number of years instead of simply drop-
ping the matter.
Ronald Lauder, the head of the WJRO
and the World Jewish Congress, called the
restitution issue one of "justice and not
money"
"By its announcement, Poland is telling
many elderly pre-war landowners, includ-
ing Holocaust survivors, that they have no
foreseeable hope of even a small measure
of justice for the assets that were seized
from them:' he said. "This issue has been
under discussion in Poland for almost two
decades, through
many economic
periods, includ-
ing the present one
when Poland is
experiencing some
of the strongest eco-
nomic growth in the
European Union. It
Michael
is unacceptable that
Schudrich
Poland cannot find
some way to meet its
responsibility to former landowners."
He pointed out that most central and
Eastern European countries "have adopted
some type of law to provide for the resti-
tution of or compensation for confiscated
property. Poland stands out for its failure
to do so:'
The bill's opponents have argued that
the Poland of today should not be held
liable for the crimes of the Nazis and the
Communists. However, it is currently in
the process of making restitution for con-
fiscated Jewish communal property.
Michael Schudrich, Poland's chief rabbi,
was quoted as saying that Poland's "refusal
to return it [property] to the owners is
immoral ... The Bible says, `Do not steal."
Michael Schneider, secretary-general of

the World Jewish Congress, issued a state-
ment in which he called Poland's decision
"disappointing and unfair ... We must
help old people, particularly Holocaust
survivors, who in their twilight years need
the means to cope with the problems of
old age. Many Holocaust survivors who
came from Poland to the United States,
Israel, Britain and other countries are suf-
fering because they do not have enough
money to pay for home care. Most of these
people do not have families either, as they
lost them in the Holocaust."
Although a great deal of property was
successfully reclaimed following the
collapse of communism in 1989, an esti-
mated 2 million landowners are affected
by this decision. In many cases, their
property was sold to a third party or their
property was in a state beyond realistic
redemption. Other property was national-
ized and continues to be owned by the
state.
The bill that was said to be drawn up
for legislative approval would have provid-
ed compensation based upon 20 percent
of the property's current value.
Poland's property-owners' association
estimates that unreturned property is
worth some more than $26 billion. About
89,000 claims are said to still be outstand-
ing; Jewish claims are said to represent
some 17 percent of all claims. There were
3.3 million Jews in Poland before the
Holocaust; three million were murdered
by the Nazis.
Steinberg said that other than repara-
tion payments, the issue of Poland's failure
to make restitution to survivors is the
second most discussed issue among sur-
vivors.
He recalled that Lech Walesa, Poland's
former president, once told a group of
Jewish leaders that "one-third of the prop-
erty in Poland was owned by the Jews
[before the Holocaust]. That's an exaggera-
tion, but that's the mindset we are dealing
with."

mercial slaughter must first be
stunned, which is forbidden in
shechitah, or kosher slaughter.
A controversial ban on kosher
slaughter put in place by New Zealand's
agriculture minister was partially
reversed last November amid allega-

tions that his decision was taken to
appease Muslim countries that have
lucrative trade relations with New
Zealand.
The ban on kosher slaughter of poul-
try was suspended, while the ban on
beef remains.