Dozens of European countries have agreed to Israel’s suggestion to begin proceedings for the return of property to Holocaust survivors. At a conference in Prague last week, ministers and representatives from 43 countries agreed on the manner in which this would be carried out.
The Israeli delegation was headed by Deputy Minister for Pensioner Affairs Dr. Leah Ness. Also taking part were Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer and U.S. State Department envoy Stuart E. Eizenstat. Israel’s Ministry of Pensioner Affairs is running Israel’s campaign for the return of rights and lost property from the Holocaust period.
“Specifically now,” Ness said, “when a major de-legitimization of Israel is being waged by various countries, we received a significant backwind of support in the form of support from dozens of countries for Jewish rights in countries that were captured by the Nazis and their allies.”
Ness took advantage of her visit abroad to emphasize the following points: “There is no hunger or humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Gaza is under the control of Hamas, a terrorist organization that continues to arm itself with weapons and missiles with which to attack Israelis. Hamas continues to hold Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in violation of international law.”
Alex Orly, Deputy Chairman of the Holocaust Survivors Organizations in Israel, told Arutz-7 that the decision is a positive development, “but it has to be taken care of quickly. Tens of survivors die every day.”
“Aside from Germany,” Orly said, “most of the countries of Europe, and especially in Eastern Europe, refrained from returning the property because they said it would be too large of an economic burden. I’m glad that, with the help of American pressure, the Prague Conference made this decision.”
“We’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars of property,” Orly said. “You have to remember that the Nazis stole property from nine million Jews, and especially in Poland, where there were the most Jews and public buildings belonging to the community.”
Orly admitted that there is a long way between the declarative decision and actual implementation. “It will take a while before the countries will open their archives to the various claimants… This has to be done fast; if only the survivors’ children remain to sue, it will be much harder to claim the property.”