American Jews are again appealing for the return of money for property lost during the Holocaust World War II in Poland. To make their voices louder, they asked for support from influential politicians. The result of these efforts was a letter from 46 members of Congress to John Kerry. – The attitude of American politicians is annoying. They are again treating us harshly, but this also has a bad impact on the Jews – says Money.pl Wiesław Kaczmarek, former Minister of Finance, who worked on this issue during the SLD government. – Property always has an owner or heir, and this is very basic – answered the former Israeli Ambassador to Poland, Szewach Weiss.

The initiator of this correspondence was the World Organization for the Restitution of Jewish Property, which has been fighting for many years to recover property confiscated during the war. The authors of the letter ask the State Department to intervene in this matter and demand that, 70 years after the end of World War II, the property issue of Jews persecuted as a result of this conflict be finally resolved.

This case is controversial because the Jews who lost their property in our country as a result of the war have received compensation. In the first case, the payer is Germany. A 1952 agreement between Germany and Israel guaranteed payment of 3.5 billion marks in compensation. However, it didn't stop there, because West Germany supported Tel Aviv economically and financially for years. Final estimates put the value of this aid at up to DM 60 billion.

When he ruled Poland Władysław Gomułka, then First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, another agreement was reached, this time with the US authorities. On the parliamentary website you can easily find a comprehensive answer given by the Minister of Finance in the SLD government, Wiesław Kaczmarek. In 2002, Jewish organizations made claims similar to those made today, and one member of parliament asked for clarification on the matter.

The document reads: “In 1948-1971, the Polish government signed a number of agreements with the governments of foreign countries, under which Poland paid appropriate compensation to the governments of these countries for property abandoned or nationalized in Poland after World War II. .

The property in question becomes the property of the Polish state, and compensation obligations are borne by the governments of the countries with which Poland has contracted. Due to the above, Poland's claims cannot be satisfied individual person and legal issues relating to the property covered by this arrangement. One of them is the agreement signed with the United States government on July 16, 1960.

The agreement assumes the amount of USD 40 million, which the government of the People's Republic of Poland agreed to pay to the government of the United States for the full settlement and satisfaction of all claims of citizens of the United States, both individuals and legal entities, related to nationalization and other types of expropriation of property, rights and interests others by Poland relating to property expropriated prior to the entry into force of the arrangement.

This response suggests that this treaty eliminated US citizens' claims against the Polish state. The pleas of American congressmen also seem unfounded, because it was with the government of this country that we reached an agreement 55 years ago. Meanwhile, claims continue to emerge, and the amount estimated by Jewish organizations is usually no less than $60 billion.

– The attitude of American politicians is annoying and I think it is completely unnecessary at this time. I am surprised that these circles are looking for a place to make money, maybe not a direct conflict, but they are doing a lot to make it difficult to make deals – said Wiesław Kaczmarek to Money.pl today. – We know that we cannot afford it and we are not responsible for the events of World War II. I don't think it's right that my daughter's generation should have to pay for this now. America is treating us harshly again, but this is having a bad impact not only on them, but also on the Jews, the former minister added.

Israel's former ambassador to Poland, Szewach Weiss, disagrees with him. – Not because the Poles robbed us. The bottom line is that they end up taking over someone's property, Weiss said. – We remember that there are many pious Poles, but property always has an owner or heir, and this is a very basic thing – he added.

The Ambassador pointed out that in his conversations with Minister Kaczmarek at the beginning of this century, he emphasized that no one wanted to evict anyone from their apartments or take over buildings that had tenants. – I count on a compromise between countries, because we don't want to get it back from individuals – said Weiss. – However, it is impossible to resolve all issues related to the return of property, except for property belonging to the Jewish community – he added.

Indeed, in 1997, the Sejm adopted a law stating that Poland had returned property to the Jewish community for many years. Along this route, these organizations have restored many public buildings.

– This issue has been resolved. There are rules, there is a system and it works. But when young Jews came to Poland and visited their father's house, they unfortunately knew that they would never be able to get him back. This creates a sense of injustice, concludes Szewach Weiss.

Regulations regarding municipal property matters do not reduce the pressure on individual property returns. The topic keeps coming back. The World Jewish Congress periodically calls on our country to fully address this issue. Despite the above-mentioned agreements with the United States, successive governments generally did not respond sharply to these demands and presented attitudes that gave both sides hope for a final solution.

That is why for years politicians of all stripes have been talking about the need to urgently adopt a reprivatization law. While there is rare agreement between divisions regarding the need to return property in a civilized manner, such laws have and have not existed. This shortage increasingly burdens local governments. Last year, Warsaw had to add PLN 600 million from the state budget to handle claims related to reprivatization.

However, there is no chance of passing the law soon. According to estimates Minister of Finance (since 2012), this meant a sudden increase in public debt of PLN 18 billion, which Poland could not afford.

It is difficult to expect that in an election year, anyone would raise an issue that would put the state budget under similar strain. Even today, given the increasing prevalence of election promises, it is difficult to provide calculations that provide a chance for these promises to be implemented. The billions in additional costs only make the situation more difficult.

Therefore, for now, parliamentarians are only working on so-called small reprivatization measures, intended to eliminate the negative impact of the Bierut decree of 1945 (the nationalization of all land in the capital). In late June, lawmakers voted against returning public buildings such as schools and kindergartens, meaning that these assets would eventually be lost to heirs.

The bill is now in the Senate and will be discussed on Wednesday, although it has not yet been placed on the agenda. Once signed by the President, the regulation will become binding law, but let us remind you once again: this is only the regulation regarding Warsaw, about which the Sejm Opinion Office has serious legal doubts.

Unofficially, one of the senators told us that during the committee's work, he learned from representatives of the Ministry of Finance that a comprehensive reprivatization bill was being carried out. However, he added that he had heard similar declarations over the years as a standard response to questions regarding legislative amendments in this area.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance responded to our questions regarding this matter as follows:

“In order to initiate appropriate efforts to take measures that comprehensively resolve the problem of reprivatization, it is necessary to carry out a detailed analysis of the scale of the problem in property and financial terms, as well as the possibility of its resolution on the part of the parties. Efforts are currently underway to estimate potential reprivatization claims across the country.

What is collected includes: from voivodeships, starostas and other state legal entities, data on reprivatization claims submitted in each voivodeship. Estimates of reprivatization claims, namely claims that are officially filed and submitted to administrative bodies and courts, as well as claims that can be reported, must also be compared with the estimated value of property that is still in the hands of the state and that can be calculated. used for this purpose. These analyzes will be used to prepare proposals for systemic solutions to the reprivatization issue.

Read more at Money.pl