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World Jewish News
Lithuania Agrees to Compensate the Unreturned Jewish Real Estate
06.03.2009
Lithuania has agreed to pay 113 million Litas (about 41 million USD) for unreturned Jewish real estate within ten years, as reported by Interfax. According to the Agency, the Ministry of Justice has developed the relevant draft law which mandates that the payment of compensations shall commence on January 1, 2001 and finish on March 1, 20121. The money is planned for transfer to the foundation designated by the government.
The compensation covers 136 objects. Authors of the draft law state that the proposed compensation amount represents one third of the average market value of the total preserved real estate owned by Jewish communities.
Lithuania is the last European state which has not yet decided the issue of recovering the Jewish property.
As reported by the Agence France-Presse, Simonas Gurevicius, the executive director of the Jewish community of Russia, said that his organization welcomed this decision by the country's government.
According to him, the gesture itself is more important than the numbers.
Before World War II, 220 thousand Jews had lived in Lithuania, most of whom were killed during the German occupation of the Republic. Currently, some 5 thousand Jews live there.
It is expected that next week the government will discuss the draft law. The date of its transmission to the approval of the Seym has not yet been determined.
These compensations will only be used for cultural, educational, and charity purposes, including the support of Jews who were victims of totalitarian regimes.
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