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World Jewish News
Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius does not Preclude Return of Jewish property Financially and in Kind
13.06.2009
The Prime Minister of Lithuania Andrius Kubilius said the prepared draft on the return of Jewish property according to which Jews shall be paid 113 million litas during ten years to be a compromise, and to the most corresponding with both the state's potentialities and different Jewish communities' interests.
When asked by journalists whether some of the buildings can be returned to Jews in kind as they suggest, Andrius Kubilius did not exclude such a possibility.
"These are technical details. Various solutions can be searched for in a general scope of obligations of the state. I do not exclude this solution but it is the question what the state's obligations are. We will probably discuss this in the Cabinet in the coming week," the Prime Minister said on Monday.
In the draft presented by the Ministry of Justice, it is proposed to pay the compensation in the amount of 113 million litas in 2011-2021. Minister of Justice Remigiyus Shimashius considers this amount reasonable but proposes to start paying-out from 2011 only in case Lithuania's economic growth is positive.
The Minister noted that a political decision that would be supported not only by the government, the Seimas and the ruling coalition but by opposition parties as well should be made on the issue of paying of the compensation for immovable property to Jews.
As early as 2005, Israeli press reported that the Jews of the USA launched a new campaign aimed at exerting pressure on Eastern European states including Lithuania in order to make them fulfill their obligations and pay compensations to the Jews who survived the Holocaust as well as return the stolen property of the families that died at the hand of Nazis.
The list of these countries includes Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Belarus.
In 2005, the Jewish community delivered a list of property to be returned where 438 buildings were indicated to the government; however, the government then announced its readiness to accept the Jewish community's claims for only 156 objects given in the list.
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