III 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 516 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the restitution of or compensation 

for property seized during the Nazi and Communist eras. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2012 

Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself and Mr. BROWN of Ohio) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the restitution of 

or compensation for property seized during the Nazi 

and Communist eras. 

Whereas protecting and respecting private property rights is 

a basic principle for all democratic governments that operate according to the rule of law; 

Whereas Nazi or Communist regimes dominated many Eastern European countries without the consent of their people for parts of the 20th century; 

Whereas the authoritarian and totalitarian regimes that 

emerged in Eastern Europe after World War II perpetuated the wrongful and unjust confiscation of property, 

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•SRES 516 IS 

nancial assets, that belonged to victims of Nazi persecution; 

Whereas the Nazi regime considered religious property an 

early target and denied religious communities the temporal facilities that held them together by expropriating 

churches, synagogues, religious seminaries, cemeteries, 

and other communal property; 

Whereas, after World War II, Communist regimes expanded 

the systematic expropriation of private, communal, and 

religious property in an effort to eliminate the influence 

of religion; 

Whereas, since the fall of the Iron Curtain, only part of the 

immovable property confiscated during and after the Holocaust has been recovered or compensated; 

Whereas, in July 2001, the Paris Declaration of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly noted that the process of restitution, compensation, and material reparation of victims of 

Nazi persecution has not been pursued with the same degree of comprehensiveness by all of the participating 

states of that Organization; 

Whereas the Organization for Security and Co-operation in 

Europe Parliamentary Assembly has called on each participating state to adopt and implement appropriate legislation to ensure that victims of Nazi persecution, including communal organizations and institutions, receive restitution of or compensation for lost property, without regard to the current citizenship or place of residence of 

the victims or their heirs or the relevant successors to 

communal property; 


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•SRES 516 IS 

Whereas the United States Congress has, unanimously and 

on numerous occasions, urged countries in Europe that 

have not yet done so to immediately enact fair, comprehensive, nondiscriminatory, and just legislation to provide restitution, or fair compensation in cases in which 

restitution is not possible, to victims of persecution who 

had private property looted or wrongfully confiscated by 

Nazis during World War II or subsequently seized by a 

Communist government and the heirs of those victims; 

Whereas the representatives of 44 countries that participated 

in the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era 

Assets agreed on principles intended to guide just and 

equitable solutions to confiscated art, insurance, and 

communal property, but did not address the complex 

issue of private property; 

Whereas, 11 years later, representatives of more than 45 

countries participated in the Prague Holocaust-Era Assets Conference in June 2009, and agreed to the Terezin 

Declaration of June 30, 2009, which— 

(1) recognized that Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and 

other victims of Nazi persecution have reached an advanced age and that respecting their personal dignity and 

addressing their social welfare needs is an issue of utmost urgency; 

(2) recognized that wrongful property seizures, such 

as confiscation, forced sales, and sales under duress of 

property, were part of the persecution by the Nazis of innocent people, many of whom died without heirs; 

(3) recognized the importance of restituting communal and individual property that belonged to victims of 

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tion and urged that every effort be made to rectify the 

consequences of wrongful property seizure; 

(4) urged that every effort be made to provide for 

the restitution of former Jewish communal and religious 

property through in rem restitution or compensation in 

cases in which restitution has not yet been effectively 

achieved; and 

(5) recognized that in some countries heirless property could serve as a basis to address the material necessities of Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and to ensure ongoing education about the Holocaust (Shoah) and its causes 

and consequences; 

Whereas nearly 3 years have passed since the adoption of the 

Terezin Declaration and the governments of some countries have still not fulfilled or made progress toward fulfilling the moral obligations expressed in that document, 

including— 

(1) the Government of Poland, which is virtually 

alone among post-Communist countries in not having 

adopted any legislation providing a process for restitution 

of or compensation for private property that Nazi or 

Communist regimes confiscated despite numerous public 

promises from various administrations; 

(2) the Government of Romania, which has halted 

implementation of legislation to return former communal 

property or pay compensation to claimants; 

(3) the Government of Latvia, which has failed to 

press forward with legislation to return Jewish communal 

and religious properties or provide financial compensation 

for the loss of those properties despite numerous promises to domestic and international claimants; 


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•SRES 516 IS 

(4) the Government of Slovenia, which has refused 

to pay compensation for officially recognized former Jewish property; and 

(5) the Government of Croatia, which has still not 

adopted appropriate legislation to provide compensation 

for property that the Nazis and their allies confiscated 

during the Holocaust; 

Whereas the governments of Serbia and Lithuania have recently enacted restitution and compensation programs for 

private and Jewish communal property, respectively, serving as a potential model for other governments to follow; 

Whereas some Holocaust survivors, now in the twilight of 

their lives, are impoverished and in urgent need of assistance, lacking the resources to support basic needs, including adequate shelter, food, or medical care; 

Whereas the Washington and Prague conferences on Holocaust-era assets should not be the last opportunity for 

the international community to address property restitution at the highest level; 

Whereas the European Shoah Legacy Institute will hold an 

Immoveable Property Review Conference in late November 2012 in Prague to review compliance with the 

Terezin Declaration as well as the document entitled 

‘‘Guidelines and Best Practices for the Restitution and 

Compensation of Immovable (Real) Property Confiscated 

or Otherwise Wrongfully Seized by the Nazis, Fascists 

and Their Collaborators during the Holocaust (Shoah) 

Era between 1933–1945, Including the Period of World 

War II’’, which 43 countries adopted following the 

Prague Conference; and 


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Whereas, although those documents are not legally binding, 

the governments of all countries bear a moral responsibility to uphold and defend the plight and dignity of Holocaust survivors, ensure their well-being, and respond to 

their social needs: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the unmet needs of many Holo3 caust survivors and the urgency of addressing those 

4 needs; 

5 (2) appreciates the efforts of the governments 

6 of countries in Europe that have enacted and imple7 mented legislation for the restitution of or com8 pensation for private, communal, and religious prop9 erty wrongly confiscated during the Nazi or Com10 munist eras; 

11 (3) welcomes the efforts of the governments of 

12 many post-Communist countries to address complex 

13 and difficult questions relating to the status of 

14 wrongly confiscated property; 

15 (4) urges each government that has not already 

16 done so to complete the process of adopting and im17 plementing necessary and proper legislation to effect 

18 the in rem return of or the payment of compensation 

19 for wrongly confiscated property; 

20 (5) calls on each government to establish res21 titution and compensation schemes in a simple, 


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1 transparent, and timely manner to provide a real 

2 benefit to those who suffered from the unjust confis3 cation of their property; and 

4 (6) calls on the Secretary of State to issue an 

5 updated report on property restitution in Central 

6 and Eastern Europe that evaluates whether the gov7 ernments of those countries have met the basic 

8 standards and best practices of the international 

9 community. 

Æ 


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