Latvian Jewish org. urges parliament to push property restitution forward
While Latvia has worked to ensure the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust and promote education and historical study on the subject, progress on property restitution has remained slow.
By AARON REICHNational flag flutters over Latvian central bank headquarters in Riga, Latvia April 9, 2019.(photo credit: INTS KALNINS / REUTERS)
The Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia called on the country's government to not delay solving the issue of restitution for properties taken from Jews during the Second World War, the Baltic Timesreported on Tuesday.The organization noted the fact that the Trump administration is still taking care to ensure the remembrance of the Holocaust's victims and ensuring the memory of the genocide faced by the Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany lives on for future generations. This is reflected in the recently released JUST Act Report, which the US State Department released to detail the progress of property restitution since the war's end until December 2019.As indicated by the report, while Latvia has worked to ensure the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust and promote education and historical study of the suffering of the Jews during the Second World War, restitution has progressed slowly. Between 1991 and 2016, Latvia has only restituted a fraction of what was stolen from the Jewish community.Of the many crimes carried out against the Jews during the Holocaust, property restitution remains among the most relevant today, with millions of Jews throughout central and Eastern Europe having their property forcibly confiscated by both Nazi Germany and by the Soviet Union.With the number of still-living Holocaust survivors dwindling, the organization has called on the Saeima (Latvia's parliament) to bring at least a minimal amount of compensation for the properties stolen from Jews during the war. The Council of Jewish Communities of Lativa has even identified at least 265 properties that should be restituted, the Baltic Times reported."We hope that the government and coalition parties will show political will and courage to take the right decision. We still hope that already soon Latvia will become one of the countries that have fully met their obligations under the Terezin Declaration," the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia said in a statement, according to the Baltic Times.The 2009 Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets is a nonbinding set of guiding principles aimed at faster, more open and transparent restitution of property.Property restitution remains a hot-button issues in countries throughout Europe, most notably in Poland, where it has remained a sore subject in relations with Israel, and is a prominent talking point in domestic politics. It was also a major point of contention during the country's presidential elections in 2020.Marcy Oster/JTA contributed to this report.
