U.S. Reps. Joe Crowley (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Ted Deutch (D-FL), and Leonard Lance (R-NJ) announced July 2 they led 42 bipartisan members in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry expressing strong and ongoing support for the restitution of Jewish communal, private, and heirless property seized across Europe during the Holocaust. They also urged the State Department to continue efforts to address the issue swiftly and in collaboration with the legislative branch.

“Beyond the physical and emotional trauma they suffered 70 years ago, and the impact that trauma continues to have on their lives, many Holocaust survivors in the United States and around the world live in poverty while knowing the property that was stolen from them and their family remains in the hands of governments and private owners who have no rightful claim,” wrote the lawmakers in the letter.

The Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues in 2009, approved by 47 nations, affirms that “the protection of property rights is an essential component of a democratic society and the rule of law” and recognizes “the importance of restituting or compensating Holocaust-related confiscations made during the Holocaust era between 1933-45.” The Declaration also underscores “the importance of recovering communal and religious immovable property in reviving and enhancing Jewish life, ensuring its future, assisting the welfare needs of Holocaust (Shoah) survivors, and fostering the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage.”

However, many nations that endorsed this declaration have not fully addressed the restitution of Jewish communal, private, and heirless property, including Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Serbia.

“The time is now for these governments to pass legislation that ensures a meaningful and expeditious opportunity for property claims to be filed and considered fairly and the property returned or compensated in a timely manner,” the lawmakers stated in the letter.

The letter, which was strongly supported by the World Jewish Restitution Organization, expresses the commitment of the Congress to work with the State Department to press these issues with European governments.

The full text of the letter is below:

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June 29, 2015

The Honorable John F. Kerry

Secretary of State

United States Department of State

Washington, DC 20520

Dear Mr. Secretary:

Having recently observed Holocaust Remembrance Day, when communities in the United States and across the world commemorated the more than six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, we want to express our strong support for the restitution of Jewish communal, private, and heirless property in Central and Eastern Europe.

The unprecedented looting of Jewish assets was a central aspect of the Holocaust. Seventy years after the Holocaust and twenty-five years following the fall of the Iron Curtain, a substantial percentage of formerly Jewish-owned, real properties confiscated by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust have not been returned, nor has compensation been provided to the rightful owners or their heirs.

The Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues in 2009, which the United States endorsed, affirms that “the protection of property rights is an essential component of a democratic society and the rule of law” and recognizes “the importance of restituting or compensating Holocaust-related confiscations made during the Holocaust era between 1933-45.” The Declaration also states “the importance of recovering communal and religious immovable property in reviving and enhancing Jewish life, ensuring its future, assisting the welfare needs of Holocaust (Shoah) survivors, and fostering the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage.”

Unfortunately, many nations that endorsed this declaration have not fully addressed the restitution of Jewish communal, private, and heirless property. Poland, home to the largest pre-Holocaust Jewish community, has no law on private property. Other countries, including Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Serbia have yet to fully meet their responsibilities to provide restitution.

We acknowledge that positive steps relating to the restitution of communal, private, and heirless property seized from Jews in some of these and other countries have been achieved, but the progress, for the most part, has been slow at best. Much of that progress is a direct result of the bipartisan support for this issue across Administrations and Congresses. We appreciate your engagement on this issue and the engagement of previous Secretaries of State, as well as the support of our ambassadors across Europe. We also commend the exemplary work of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Nicholas Dean, and his predecessors in the Office of Holocaust Issues over the past 15 years, as well as the leadership of the Special Adviser for Holocaust Issues, Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, all of whom have made the return of Holocaust-era assets to their rightful owners, compensation for wrongs committed during the Holocaust, and Holocaust remembrance a priority of our diplomacy in Europe and around the globe.

Holocaust victims have waited long enough. Beyond the physical and emotional trauma they suffered 70 years ago, and the impact that trauma continues to have on their lives, many Holocaust survivors in the United States and around the world live in poverty while knowing the property that was stolen from them and their family remains in the hands of governments and private owners who have no rightful claim. The time is now for these governments to pass legislation that ensures a meaningful and expeditious opportunity for property claims to be filed and considered fairly and the property returned or compensated in a timely manner.

As we observe throughout 2015 the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of the concentration camps, we express our commitment to working with you, our ambassadors, and the Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues to meaningfully address property restitution for Holocaust victims with our colleagues in Europe.

We will continue to make every effort to speak out on this issue and to raise this issue in our interactions with our allies across Europe, and we urge you to do the same to present, together with us, a united voice in support of justice for survivors and their families with no further delay.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Joseph Crowley

Chris Smith

Theodore Deutch

Leonard Lance

Grace Meng

Alan Lowenthal

Jeff Fortenberry

Carolyn Maloney

Bob Dold

Mark DeSaulnier

Sean Patrick Maloney

Bill Johnson

Steve Cohen

Brad Sherman

Sander Levin

Judy Chu

Charles Rangel

Tom Price

Susan Davis

Lee Zeldin

Nita Lowey

Trent Franks

Brett Guthrie

Kathleen Rice

Randy Weber

Albio Sires

Curt Clawson

Ted Lieu

Dan Newhouse

Patrick Murphy

James P. McGovern

Derek Kilmer

Lois Frankel

José E. Serrano

Eric Swalwell

Alcee Hastings

David Cicilline

Jerrold Nadler

Steve Israel

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Frederica Wilson

Bob Latta

Juan Vargas

Bill Pascrell

Ron DeSantis

Marc Veasey

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