The Saeima, Latvia’s parliament, declared support in principle for a bill resolving to compensate the Jewish community for property lost during the Holocaust.
According to the bill, a compensation of 40 million euros will be paid out in ten installments over the next ten years. 61 MPs supported the bill, while 13 voted against.
During the Holocaust, 90 percent of Latvian’s pre-war Jewish community was exterminated. Their properties became property of the Latvian state. Compensation provided for in the legislation is stated as Latvia’s goodwill compensation for this unclaimed property.
According to the bill, EUR 4 million will be paid from the state budget annually from 2023 through 2032. The amount is calculated according to the cadastral value of the property owned by the Jewish community on June 16, 1940, which has not been returned to the community, and the cadastral value of which was approximately EUR 47.8 million on December 31, 2018.
