The Company for Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets (CRHVA) announced this week that 113,000 shares of the pre-state Jewish Colonial Trust were held by 55,000

The shares are currently worth an estimated NIS 200 million.

victims of the Nazi genocide. The CRHVA, established to locate assets in Israel held by Jews who perished in the Holocaust, has collected the names of the shareholders in the hopes of tracking down their lawful heirs.

The Jewish Colonial Trust (JCT) was the parent company of the Anglo Palestine Bank, the predecessor of Bank Leumi.  Founded by Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl in 1899, its activities focused on the purchase of the right of settlement in the Land of Israel from the Ottoman government and on granting credit for the establishment of Zionist activities in the Land of Israel. Early in the 20th century, the JCT issued approximately 250,000 shares for £1 each. The shares are currently worth an estimated NIS 200 million. 

The CRHVA, founded in 2006 by Knesset legislation, announced earlier this year that it had compiled an initial list of Holocaust victims' assets in Israel. The list is open for public viewing on the company website.

The CRHVA "calls upon victims' heirs to submit applications for restitution of assets in Israel previously owned by Holocaust victims," the website says. "Any and all persons claiming entitlement to assets, whether or not the assets appear in our publications, are requested to submit applications for Asset Restitution...." The organization notes that the assets it has catalogued were transferred to it by various state and private organizations.  

According to the law establishing the CRHVA, it is empowered to locate, coordinate and determine lawful ownership of all unclaimed assets in Israel that are assumed to have belonged to Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In the case of those assets for which an heir is not found, the CRHVA is obligated to use them to assist Israeli Holocaust survivors in need, as well as for documentation and education about the Holocaust. The law stipulates, however, that no "assistance or support will be given for these purposes to any State institutions, including local authorities."

The law for Holocaust asset restitution was passed as a result of intensive work by the Knesset Audit Committee, led by MK Colette Avital (Labor). The Committee investigated the issue of dormant bank accounts and other assets held by various institutions in Israel whose owners are assumed to have perished in the Holocaust.