Polish President Lech Kaczyński
Photo: Reuters
Poland evading payment of reparations to Jews
Group of Israeli lawyers says government offices in Warsaw ignoring president's official promise to speed up handling of compensation for Jews whose property was seized during World War II; approval of citizenship taking one to two years instead of two months due to foot-dragging
Polish President Lech Kaczyński's promise to pass a law guaranteeing reparations for Jews whose property was seized during World War II may remain on paper, according to a group of Israeli lawyers.
The group, headed by Attorney Ilan Charsky, claims that only people with a Polish citizenship would be entitled to compensation because of Polish bureaucracy.
Attorney Charsky appealed to the polish president and prime minister and to international Jewish organization in protest of the Warsaw district government's foot-dragging in approving Polish citizenships for former Polish families.
Only 5,000 Jews live in Poland today, and therefore most of the reparations for the confiscated property are to be granted to former Poles and their descendants living in Israel.
In Israel there are currently 1.26 million people potentially entitled to receive a Polish citizenship. According to estimates, the demands for reparations could total $8 billion.
The Polish authorities' foot-dragging is manifested in ignoring a ruling issued by the country's supreme administrative court, according to which a citizenship renounced in the 1950s and 1960s was not valid.
In addition, the authorities refuse to grant a Polish citizenship to people who served in the Israel Defense Forces during the War of Independence and are putting bureaucratic obstacles in the way of those seeking a citizenship, such as a demand to obtain approvals from the Israeli Foreign Ministry in order to verify the validity of personal details.
The citizenship approval process, for example, which usually takes two or three months, is being dragged out for a year or more.
Attorney Charsky called on the Polish authorities on Monday to put an end to the "inappropriate and humiliating treatment" of Jewish Polish citizens living in Israel.
