Poland: US senators invited to see WWII restitution hurdles

WARSAW – Polish groups campaigning for a bill on returning property lost during the Holocaust have invited American politicians to see firsthand the irregularities the groups say occur without proper regulation.

Last week, 59 US senators wrote Poland's prime minister to urge the passage of legislation that would compensate Holocaust survivors and their heirs for real estate lost during World War II and later under Communism.

Poland is central Europe's only country without such a law. Individual cases are handled by courts, but activists say criminal activity has caused many plots and houses to be given to the wrong people.

Polish activists and lawmakers who are combating what they call a "restitution mafia" invited the senators on Wednesday to tour sites in Warsaw that were transferred to people unrelated to the original owners.