Eighty years after the end of World War II, and following a prolonged legal battle, the database documenting stolen Jewish property from the Holocaust era will be reopened to the public.
The database was created as part of the "HEART" (Holocaust Era Restitution Taskforce) project, which operated between 2011 and 2014 in a collaboration between the State of Israel and the Jewish Agency. The project collected tens of thousands of submissions from families worldwide, documenting Jewish property that was lost or stolen during the Holocaust.
Initially, the database was open to the public, but in 2014, it was transferred to Israel's Ministry of Social Equality, and its operation ceased. Now, following a petition, the State has agreed to reopen it for public review.
The petition, filed in 2022 under the leadership of the Shurat HaDin organization, was made on behalf of families of Holocaust survivors who participated in the project and were not informed of its cessation. They sought to trace the property of their relatives who perished and requested access to the database, which holds information on approximately two million items of Jewish property.
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Following the submission of the petition, the State agreed to engage in discussions about possible solutions. As part of these discussions, a meeting was held with the Minister of Social Equality, Mai Golan. Subsequently, Shurat HaDin engaged with the Jewish Agency, which had operated the project, and with the American company that created the database, to obtain the necessary approvals required by the State.
The State has now agreed to reopen the database, but with additional conditions. Those wishing to access the information may be required to sign various declarations and commitments. As a result of the State’s agreement, the petitioners have withdrawn their appeal to the Supreme Court.
The president of Shurat HaDin, Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, stated: "In addition to the atrocities of genocide and the most horrific crimes committed against the Jewish people during the Holocaust, this is also the greatest theft in human history."
"After 80 years of exploitation and ongoing injustice towards the families of the victims and survivors, every small achievement and every door that can be opened to help advance historical justice for the victims is a tremendous milestone. Two million lost items can now be returned to their rightful owners, the Holocaust survivors. At Shurat HaDin, we see it as a great privilege to stand by the survivors and the families of the victims and to bring them some measure of relief after so many years," she said.