UNITED STATES/FILE: HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS TESTIFY AT A NEW YORK ASSEMBLY HEARING INTO THEIR ENTITLEMENT TO RESTITUTION OF PROPERTY LOST DURING WW II

Record ID: 338032

  • Title: UNITED STATES/FILE: HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS TESTIFY AT A NEW YORK ASSEMBLY HEARING INTO THEIR ENTITLEMENT TO RESTITUTION OF PROPERTY LOST DURING WW II
  • Date: 22nd March 2001
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA (MARCH 22, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEETING 0.06 2. VARIOUS: SOUNDBITE (English) GARY ACKERMAN, UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN, "The United States, as the preeminent international leader, has the unmistakable obligation to raise this issue forcefully with Poland, a nation with which America want
  • Embargoed: 6th April 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AND FILE (AUSCHWITZ, POLAND)
  • City:
  • Country: USA United States Poland
  • Reuters ID: LVA60TF585IJL2KO1AE2ETS39ACS
  • Story Text: Holocaust survivors and their families gave testimony
    at a New York State Assembly hearing claiming they are
    entitled to restitution from the Polish government for the
    property losses they suffered during World War II.


    Survivors of the Holocaust testified Thursday (March
    22) at a New York Assembly public hearing that examined the
    claims by Holocaust victims and their families that Polish
    Jews are entitled to restitution for the property losses they
    suffered during World War II.

    The hearing was an opportunity for survivors and their
    families to bring to light the the hardships and property
    losses they suffered over fifty years ago.

    In June 1999, a class action lawsuit was filed in New York
    on behalf of Jewish Poles, seeking to compel Poland to return
    or pay compensation for property wrongly taken by the
    government but to date there have been no payments.

    The New York State Assembly had a pivotal roll in applying
    pressure to both the Swiss and German governments, threatening
    sanctions if the survivors were not given compensation.

    Congressman Gary Ackerman said during the hearing, "The
    United States as the preeminent international leader has the
    unmistakable obligation to raise this issue forcefully with
    Poland, a nation with which America wants to have a warm and
    close relationship. The question of restitution however is not
    one of concern only to Poland. The United States and our own
    state of New York in particular have become the home for
    thousands of Poles, many of them Jews who fled the nightmare
    of genocide in the 1940's"
    Between 1945 and 1947, approximately 100,000 Jews fled
    Poland. According to some estimates, fewer than 10,000 live
    there today. The panel heard evidence from lawyers and
    survivors about the violence and hostility that Nazi Germany
    and other Poles used to seize the property of Polish Jews.

    Goldie Knobel, was five years old when her father was
    murdered after visiting a government office in Poland. She is
    seeking restitution for the loss of property and copies of the
    police report her mother filed when her father was murdered.

    So far, the report is missing. She said, "If I would go
    through my whole family, I could probably claim half of
    Poland, but at least the big properties, the hotels and the
    lands and the private houses and get some restitution off it.

    And sort of shaking up the Polish people to awakening their
    heart to the suffering, towards love of another human being
    they hated for so many generations without reason."
    Mel Weiss, an attorney actively involved in the recitation
    claims against Swiss banks, said to the Assembly, "Make no
    mistake about it. We must use pressure and gain the attention
    of Poland as a government and its people in order to get
    justice here."



  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register