H. Res. 191
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
May 23, 2005.
Whereas the establishment of a Communist government in
Romania after World War II proved disastrous for estab-
lished religious institutions;
Whereas a central element of persecution by the Communist
government in Romania was the uncompensated confisca-
tion of real and personal property from religious commu-
nities and from leaders of religious communities, and the
arrest and persecution of religious leaders;
Whereas 2,140 schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other
charitable and civic institutions were illegally confiscated
under communism from the four historic Hungarian
churches (Roman Catholic, Hungarian Reformed, Evan-
gelical Lutheran, and Unitarian) and actual possession
and use of such properties has been denied in all but 30
cases;
Whereas Romania’s wartime Fascist government began the
process of confiscating Jewish property in September
1940 and its postwar Communist government reaffirmed
most of these confiscations;
Whereas only a handful of Jewish communal properties have
been restituted, often with government agencies still
using the facilities and paying no rent, and over 1,000
•HRES 191 EH
communal properties remain in the possession of the
Government of Romania;
Whereas some Jewish claims have been willfully ignored for
years, such as in the case of agricultural land in Iasi,
where municipal authorities continue to sell parcels of
this land;
Whereas on January 2, 1990, under terms of Decree-Law
126/1990, the 1948 decree which dissolved the Romanian
Greek Catholic Church was abrogated, permitting Greek
Catholics again to worship openly, and legal provisions
and procedures were established for the return of con-
fiscated properties that before 1948 belonged to the
Greek Catholic Church;
Whereas the commission established under Decree-Law 126/
1990 composed of representatives of the Romanian Gov-
ernment and Greek Catholic Church has proven ineffec-
tive in resolving disputed claims;
Whereas Romanian Law No. 501/2002, providing for the res-
titution of religious properties, was adopted in June 2002
without consultation with the affected religious commu-
nities, does not effectively meet the needs of those com-
munities, contains numerous legal deficiencies, and is de-
layed in its implementation;
Whereas all of the religious communities have demanded the
return of property seized by the Romanian Communist
government;
Whereas since 1990, post-Communist countries in Central
and Eastern Europe have grappled with the question of
how to redress these wrongful confiscations of religious
property, but Romania has lagged significantly behind
other post-Communist countries;
•HRES 191 EH
Whereas since the early 1990s, the United States Commis-
sion on Security and Cooperation in Europe has mon-
itored the property restitution and compensation efforts
being made by the governments of post-Communist coun-
tries in Central and Eastern Europe;
Whereas with respect to the role of the Romanian courts in
the restitution process, the Chairman of the United
States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Eu-
rope observed: ‘‘In the mid-1990s . . . hundreds of court
decisions in favor of property claimants were reversed by
the Supreme Court after they had become final and irrev-
ocable judgments. The European Court of Human Rights
has recently ruled that these actions violated the Euro-
pean Convention on Human Rights.’’; and
Whereas Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights provides that ‘‘[e]veryone has the right to freedom
of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes
freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, ei-
ther alone or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship and observance.’’: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) notes with concern the unwillingness of past
governments of Romania to recognize the responsibility
to provide equitable, prompt, and fair restitution of reli-
gious property that was confiscated by the former Com-
munist government of Romania;
(2) calls on the Government of Romania—
(A) to respect the constitutional rights of exist-
ence and practice of all religious communities to cel-
•HRES 191 EH
ebrate and practice their own religion in respectable
locations, the right to propagate the given beliefs,
and the right to openly communicate the beliefs and
laws of the religion;
(B) to provide fair, prompt, and equitable res-
titution to all religious communities under Roma-
nian law and in accordance with the Constitution of
Romania and all applicable international agree-
ments to which Romania is a party; and
(C) to provide restitution for the property
rights of all agricultural and forestry lands belong-
ing to religious communities;
(3) calls upon the Government of Romania to
amend Decree-Law 126/1990 to require that claims in-
volving Romanian Greek Catholic properties be heard by
an independent, disinterested, nonreligious commission,
and calls upon the Government of Romania to prevent
the demolition of Greek Catholic churches and to provide
immediately for the security of all Greek Catholic
churches and other religious buildings dating from the
18th and 19th centuries; and
(4) with respect to Romanian Law No. 501/2002,
calls upon the Government of Romania—
(A) to amend the law to reflect the principle of
‘‘restitution in integrum’’ as urged by Resolution