Poland must find a way to justly compensate for property confiscated from victims of the Holocaust, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday night in response to Poland’s new law making restitution nearly impossible.
“We deeply regret the adoption of these amendments,” Blinken said.
That law, which Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into effect on Saturday, is at the center of a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Poland, with both sides withdrawing their ambassadors. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has said he and Blinken are coordinating their responses.
The secretary of state urged the Polish government “to consult with representatives of affected parties and to develop a clear, efficient and effective legal procedure to resolve confiscated property claims and provide some measure of justice for victims.
“In the absence of such a procedure, this legislation will harm all Polish citizens whose property was unjustly taken, including that of Polish Jews who were victims of the Holocaust,” he said.
Blinken also commented on a Polish law that would severely curb independent media by prohibiting foreign investments in them, saying that Duda should act on the values of “freedom of expression and sanctity of contracts” with regards to that legislation.
Lapid thanked Blinken “for standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel against the Polish law,” in a tweet on Tuesday.
On Monday, Poland officially recalled its ambassador to Israel, Marek Magierowski, until further notice in response to Israel calling back its head of embassy from Warsaw.
About 3,000,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis in Poland, about 90% of Polish Jewry.
Polish Communist authorities confiscated property across the country in the 1940s and ‘50s, including property that had been owned by Jews before World War II. Some of the property had been seized illegally and could theoretically be reclaimed through Polish courts.
However, the new law would not allow such proceedings to take place if 30 years have passed since the property was confiscated. Legal proceedings that have already begun more than 30 years after the confiscation will be dismissed once the law comes into force. The fall of communism in Poland took place 32 years ago.
Lapid on Saturday called the new law “immoral” and “antisemitic.”
“We will not tolerate contempt for the memory of those who perished and for the memory of the Holocaust,” he warned.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and several other cabinet ministers weighed in against the law, as well.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday, “Israel’s decision to lower the rank of the diplomatic representation in Warsaw is groundless and irresponsible, and the words [of Foreign Minister Yair Lapid] arouse the outrage of every honest person.
“No one who knows the truth about the Holocaust and the suffering of Poland during World War II can agree to such a way of conducting politics,” he said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday, “Unfortunately, Warsaw does not preserve the memory of either the victims or the liberators, which we have been talking about for a long time.”
Poland and Russia have been engaged in a years-long dispute over the memory of victims of World War II, with each side arguing that the other was instrumental in starting the war.