The American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomed the Lithuania parliament’s adoption of the Good Will Compensation Law, legislation aimed at addressing unresolved property restitution claims of Holocaust victims.
The legislation, introduced by Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, passed on Tuesday by a margin of 74 to 6, with two abstentions. It provides nearly $40 million in compensation to private claimants and to the Lithuanian Good Will Foundation for heirless Jewish property.
“The Good Will Compensation Law provides an important measure of justice to Lithuanian Holocaust survivors and their families for the horrors they suffered during World War II and its aftermath. It continues the process of property restitution and supports present day Jewish life in Lithuania,” said Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC Director of International Jewish Affairs, who co-chairs the Good Will Foundation and who has been directly involved for decades in restitution negotiations with Lithuania.
Šimonytė introduced the bill in the Seimas, Lithuania’s legislature, earlier this month. It doubles the money the government had already set aside for restitution claims in a country where 90 percent of Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Today only 5,000 Jews remain in the country.
According to the AJC, the new law addresses property restitution issues not covered in legislation, adopted in 2011, for communal property restitution. That law provided $40 million in compensation for former Jewish communal property. Though it represented only partial value of the properties, the law established the Good Will Foundation and provided much needed funds to support Jewish communal life in Lithuania, restored several Jewish heritage sites, and offered modest payments to needy survivors.
A portion of the additional $40 million will be directed to making payments to some claimants who had originally sought compensation for private property but were unfairly rejected under the 2011 law.
The remaining funds, which will extend annual payments to the Good Will Foundation for another seven years, represent the Lithuanian government’s acknowledgment of ownerless Jewish property, referenced in the 2009 Terezin Declaration.
“The Good Will Compensation Law sets Lithuania apart from most other countries in the region that have yet to take any measure with respect to heirless property,” Baker said. “The funds will have a significant impact on strengthening and supporting Jewish communal life in Lithuania and addressing the welfare needs of the elderly, even though they may only be a fraction of the value of prewar Jewish property.”