Jerusalem – An association of Israelis of Polish descent has slammed Warsaw’s decision to suspend plans to offer compensation for property seized during the Nazi and communist eras.
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The association head, Lili Haber, says the decision is “unacceptable” and an insult to Holocaust survivors.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week suspended work on a law that would have given some compensation to former owners of lost property. Tusk cited the current economic crisis.
Haber on Monday called on Tusk to reverse his decision and correct the “dispossession of the Jewish people on Polish soil.”
Poland says only about 15 percent of the property once belonged to Jews. The issue is straining relations between Jewish groups and Poland, which was home to 3.5 million Jews before Word War II.
Its unfortunate but the Polish economy is tanking and the government is hanging on by a thread after pushing through various austerity programs. There would be zero support in the Polish parliment for any new program for funding wartime restitution programs, no matter how worthy. There simply isn’t any money to pay for such compesnsation. Sadly, the large percentage of Polish voters were born well after the end of the holocaust and have no great sense of remorse. They are preoccupied with day to day survival with nearly 20 percent unemployment. They would react to a new reparation program the same way as American voters would react to a new program to compensate native american tribes for lands taken from them in violation of their treaty rights.
Thank you Mr Anonymous for talking sense.