WARSAW (EJP) - The President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), Ronald Lauder, met Wednesday in Warsaw with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to discuss the issue of restitution of Jewish property plundered by the Nazis during WWII and during the Communist rule in Poland. In a contribution to Poland's leading newspaper 'Rzeczpospolita' ahead of his meeting, Lauder called on the country to improve relations between Jews and Poles and to enact "a fair and substantial restitution law soon." He wrote: "To deny the return of stolen property, or adequate compensation, also violates basic democratic principles. Such denial to a Holocaust victim is a double humiliation".
"People who barely survived the war and later learnt that everything they owned had been seized by others, including the Polish State, cannot be expected to wait any longer," Lauder, who is also Honorary President of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), said. "By agreeing to a fair and substantial restitution law, Poland can further enhance its international reputation. Such a settlement is not primarily about money; it is above all about justice - however belatedly it may be done."
Lauder recalled that his organization and the WJRO have negotiated Holocaust-era restitution and compensation agreements with a number of countries, including post-communist states. "Poland has since become a free and democratic country. Today, it is a leading member of the European Union and a close ally of Israel in Europe. I want it to become a friend of the Jewish people as well. This will require openness and willingness on the part of both Poles and Jews. It will require honesty, introspection, courage and leadership to overcome the prejudices that have marred relations in the past."
During a visit to Israel in April, Donald Tusk promised that Poland would speed up the preparation of a draft reprivatisation law. The new bill would guarantee that "Polish or former Polish citizens" could seek the restitution of their lost property.
In Donald Tusk’s estimation, compensation for the lost property could amount to 15-20 per cent of its original value. In Lauder's opinion, the meeting with the Polish Prime Minister could lead to a compromise whereby the financial capability of the country and the good of its people would be taken into equation.
Before the war, some 3.5 million Jews had lived in Poland. Few survived the Holocaust, when the Nazis exterminated six million Jews from across occupied Europe. After the war, Poland's Jewish population numbered just 280,000. Many Jews emigrated to the United States or Israel, either immediately after the war or during waves of anti-Semitism piloted by the communist regime in the 1950s and 1960s. According to various estimates, Poland counts just 5,000 to 15,000 people who identify themselves as Jewish, out of a total population of 38 million people, more than 90 percent of whom are Catholic.
