Latvia’s parliament, the Saeima, has passed in the third and final reading legislation providing for the restitution of five pre-war properties to the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia.
Under the new legislation, the municipalities that currently own the above properties will be able to turn them over to the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia, the country’s EJC affiliate.
Three of the properties to be returned to the Jewish community are situated in the capital city of Riga, one property is situated in the seaside resort of Jurmala and one in the western Latvian town of Kandava.
According to the legislation, the restitution of the Jewish properties is intended to amend historical injustice Latvia’s Jewish congregations and organisations have suffered during the Holocaust and under the totalitarian Soviet regime on Latvia’s territory.
The Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia is set to launch a special foundation that would be tasked with managing the restituted properties, Dmitrijs Krupnikovs, deputy chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia, said.
