The Swiss Government and the Polish Government have reached an agreement calling for the former to turn over to Poland heirless property of Jews of Polish nationality which is on deposit in Swiss banks and other institutions, the New York Times reported today from Geneva. The report said that Jewish sources estimate the amount of property involved to be between $5,000,000 and $50,000,000.
Worldwide Jewish organizations and the Swiss Jewish community are objecting strongly to the agreement which is contained in an exchange of letters on June 25, 1949, when a Swiss-Polish trade pact was signed. The agreement has not yet been ratified by the Swiss parliament. If the Swiss legislature ratifies the agreement, the funds will be used to indemnify Swiss nationals who sustained losses in Poland when that government nationalized its economy.
Under an Allied declaration of June, 1946, the Times article pointed out, the property of heirless victims of the Nazis should be turned over to the International. Refugee Organization for use in rehabilitating refugees belonging to the same groupings as the victims. In May, 1946, the Swiss Government expressed itself as sympathetic to this principle.
One of the major problems raised by this pact, Jewish groups fear, will be the establishment of a precedent which may apply to all heirless property held in Switzerland. The Swiss say that the legal basis for their decision is a Swiss law of 1891 declaring that all movable property of foreigners who die interstate must be disposed of according to the laws of the country of which the property owner was a national. A committee of eminent jurists, asked by the Swiss Jewish community to study the problem, came to the conclusion that no Swiss law covers this case.
The Swiss have announced that under the terms of the agreement claims may be filed for recovery of the property up to five years from ratification of the pact, a longer period than would normally be allowed under Swiss law.
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