Poland’s prime minister said he is committed to passing a compensation law.
Donald Tusk, meeting Monday at the Polish Consulate in New York with representatives of several major Jewish organizations, promised that legislation would be introduced this spring that provides some measure of compensation for confiscated property under previous authoritarian regimes.
Poland is among the last countries in the former Eastern bloc to introduce legislation to compensate those who lost their property to the Nazis and later the communists.
Tusk said he would push for its passage by the fall, according to sources who attended the meeting.
Among those on hand were representatives of the Claims Conference, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the American Jewish Committee.
Several draft bills offering compensation for stolen property have circulated in the Polish parliament over the years, with the latest version offering 15 percent compensation to claimants and their heirs. Tusk did not reveal the level of compensation of the latest proposal.
It is estimated that 20 percent of the potential claimants and heirs are Jewish.
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