Far-right Polish bill banning restitution of Holocaust-era property referred to committee after it fails to gain support

A far-right push to stop the restitution of property owned by Jews and others before the Holocaust failed to gain support in the Polish Parliament.

Activists of the far-right Konfederacija party had gathered enough signatures to present a draft resolution to the Sejm, the lower house of Polish parliament, that would prohibit the redistribution of “heirless property”— property that belonged to private individuals, many of them Jews, who were killed in the Holocaust and whose heirs, if they exist, never filed for restitution.

“It is forbidden to take any actions aimed at satisfying claims regarding heirless property, including negotiations, entering into settlements, recognizing claims and actions relating to heirless property, consenting to mediation, directing parties to mediation or payment of cash benefits,” the draft states. It also states that Nazi Germany, not Poland, is responsible for what happened in Poland when it was occupied by Germany.

The draft resolution was referred for “further work” by the Justice and Human Rights Commission. Out of the Sejm’s 460 members, 259 voted against scrapping the draft outright, Salon24 reported. But in a subsequent vote, 420 lawmakers objected to it moving to a second reading. This led Sejm Speaker Elżbieta Witek to refer the draft to committee.

Speaking for the right-wing ruling Law and Justice party, lawmaker Arkadiusz Mularczyk said the draft resolution was unnecessary, as “the problem of landless land in Poland does not really exist.”

Maciej Konieczny, a lawmaker for Left Together, called the draft antisemitic, adding it was “a scare campaign about Jews who are supposedly going to rob Poland.”

Law and Justice has faced harsh condemnations by Israel, the United States and international Jewish groups over its passing in 2018 of a law that makes it illegal to blame Poland for Nazi crimes.

The draft resolution is the latest development in a campaign designed to resist growing pressures on Poland to offer compensation for property lost during the Holocaust. The far-right petition garnered 200,000 signatures.

The campaign is in part a response to the US Congress’s Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today act, or JUST, passed in 2018. Also known as Law 447, it is a push to ensure that people who survived World War II or their heirs receive compensation for their losses.

The law requires countries holding Holocaust-era property to ensure “the return to the rightful owner of any property, including religious or communal property, that was wrongfully seized or transferred.” The draft resolution had been billed “anti 447”.

Poland has given millions back in compensation for property that was owned by Jewish communities, but it is the only major country in the former Soviet bloc that has taken no action to return private property, according to the World Jewish Restitution Organization.

Law and Justice itself campaigned heavily ahead of an election last year against Jewish Holocaust restitution claims, leading Jewish leaders to warn that the debate had turned anti-Semitic.

May 2019 saw thousands of Polish nationalists march to the US Embassy to protest US pressure on Poland to compensate Jews whose families lost property during the Holocaust. It appeared to be one of the largest anti-Jewish street demonstrations in recent times.

That same month Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki vowed that his country would never pay restitution for Jewish properties stolen during the Holocaust, saying that such a move would be a “victory for Hitler.”

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