US senators press Polish president on restitution law
A group of US senators have called on Polish President Andrzej Duda to stymie the passage of a highly controversial bill that would forestall property restitution, or compensation, for people whose property was confiscated by the Polish Communist regime after World War II, including Holocaust survivors.
Twelve senators signed a bipartisan letter to Duda, expressing their “grave concerns” over the legislation, and requested that he “press for the withdrawal of this bill from the Polish Senate” and to veto it if it is approved.
The effort was led by senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) and was signed by Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).
“There is no better way for Poland to demonstrate its clear opposition to the crimes committed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet-backed Polish government,” the senators wrote. “To do so would also ensure that Poland honors its obligations under the 2009 Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues to support national laws to help Holocaust survivors reclaim their property.”
“Countless Poles, both Jewish and non-Jewish, suffered during this dark and tragic period of history, and the families of these victims should be able to seek redress,” they wrote.
On June 24, the law was passed by the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, after scant debate and was sent to the Senate for approval, sparking a diplomatic incident with Israel after Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the legislation as “immoral.”
The legislation is set for a vote in the Senate on Thursday. It is possible that the Senate will make amendments to the bill, in which case it would then be returned to the lower house for a new vote.
World Jewish Restitution Organization chairman of operations Gideon Taylor said the senators’ letter “clearly demonstrates that the US Senate cares deeply about the rights of Holocaust survivors and other
rightful property owners who have waited years for a measure of justice for property that was wrongfully confiscated by the Polish Communist regime after the end of the war.”
Taylor singled out Baldwin, Rubio, Lankford and Rosen for leading the effort and “all of the senators for pressing for urgent action.”
During a committee hearing on the bill in the Polish Senate earlier this month, Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said it was Poland’s moral duty to provide compensation of some kind to anyone whose property was confiscated, Jew or nonJew, by the Polish Communist government.
“One of the Ten Commandments is, ‘Thou shall not steal,’” he told the committee. “This property was stolen twice, once by the Germans when they occupied the country and the second time by the Communists after the war.”