Anger as Poland plans law that will stop Jews
reclaiming wartime homes
Daughter of Holocaust survivor pledges to continue her
fight for family property seized by Nazi occupiers
Harriet
Sherwood
@harrietsherwood
Sun 1 Aug
2021 08.45 BST
A few years
ago, Shoshana Greenberg stood outside a building in Lodz, Poland, once owned by
her family, with an old photograph in her hands and tears running down her
face.
Greenberg,
now 74 and living in Tel Aviv, was on a quest to reclaim property lost during
the Holocaust. Her father was head of a prominent, wealthy Jewish family in
Lodz that owned industrial buildings, residential homes and holiday properties.
When the
Nazis came, the property was confiscated along with the family jewellery. They
were forced into the Lodz ghetto. Later, Greenberg’s father and his siblings
were sent to Auschwitz, and only her father survived. After the war, the new
communist government in Poland nationalised property that had been confiscated
while destitute Holocaust survivors rebuilt their lives from scratch elsewhere.
Since the
fall of communist Europe in 1989, most countries in the former Soviet bloc have
taken steps to provide restitution and compensation to their pre-war Jewish
citizens. Poland is the only major country that has not implemented such a
programme – and now it is on the verge of making recompense even harder.
In the coming
weeks, a new law is expected to pass its final stages in the Polish parliament
that will set a 30-year time limit on legal challenges over confiscated
properties, in effect axing thousnds of claims.
The Polish
government has said the new regulations are aimed at preventing fraud and
“irregularities”. It has also said it is “not responsible for the Holocaust, an
atrocity committed by the German [occupiers]”. But many other countries –
including the UK, Israel and the US – have sharply criticised the move.
Israel’s
foreign ministry said: “This is not a historical debate about responsibility
for the Holocaust but a moral debt of Poland to those who were its citizens and
whose property was looted during the Holocaust and under the communist regime.”
Last week,
the US said the legislation “would cause irreparable harm to both Jews and
non-Jews by effectively extinguishing claims for restitution and compensation
of property taken during the Holocaust that was subsequently nationalised
during the communist period”.
The UK
Foreign Office and the British embassy in Warsaw have raised concerns with the
Polish government. Eric Pickles, the UK’s special envoy on post-Holocaust
issues, tweeted: “Restitution of confiscated Jewish property remains unfinished
business. Poland’s many friends urge it to agree a fair and reasonable scheme.”
Gideon
Taylor, chair of operations at the World Jewish Restitution Organisation, told
the Observer that the legislation was a “terrible mistake” that would
“basically eliminate any claims”. He added: “The arguments made by the Polish
government that there needs to be legal certainty is correct, and a very
reasonable position. However, with that comes a necessity to address the
underlying issues.”
Other
former Soviet bloc countries had “squared up” to the past. “But Poland is
trying to ignore the past, and paper over what was a huge injustice.” Some
prominent Polish figures had advocated “addressing history openly and
transparently but unfortunately there are stronger voices that reject any
attempt to look at what happened. The hope is that wiser heads will prevail,
but it’s very difficult,” Taylor said.
Three years
ago, Poland made it a criminal offence to accuse the country of complicity in
Nazi war crimes, with a penalty of up to three years in prison. After an
international outcry, particularly from Israel and the US, the Warsaw
government backtracked, making it a civil rather than a criminal offence.
Before the
second world war, there were more than 3 million Jews living in Poland, the
largest community in Europe. About 90% were killed in the Holocaust, many in
the Nazi death camps. Now the Jewish population of Poland is about 10,000.
The Polish
embassy in London said the legislation “does not discriminate against any
person or any particular group, nor is it intended to antagonise any party,
including Israel or the Jewish diaspora.”
It added:
“Polish law allows all entitled individuals, irrespective of their nationality
or origin, to pursue their rights, including in civil proceedings, to obtain
compensation for property lost due to postwar nationalisation.
“Poland
attaches great importance to commemorating victims of the genocide committed by
the German occupiers on its territory during the second world war.”
My father’s voice spoke from my mouth, in the name of
my family and all 6 million Jews who died
Shoshana Greenberg
Greenberg’s
father asked her to one day reclaim the family’s property. Finally in 2016, she
had her day in a Polish court. “On the witness stand, I was stronger than
steel. My father’s voice spoke from my mouth, in the name of my family and all
6 million Jews who died,” she said.
After the
court ruled she was the legal heir, she went to her father’s grave. “I told him
he had won, that the family’s dignity had been restored.”
But within
weeks the Polish land registry office denied her request that the property be
registered in her name, citing a “caveat” registered in the 1950s. “I was
shocked. I was the heir but not the owner.”
The new law
is a further blow to Greenberg and other descendants seeking restitution. “The
property does not belong to the Polish government, it belongs to my family. It
doesn’t matter how many years have passed,” she said. “I hope the world will
not be silent. I don’t forget and I never forgive. Never.”
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