Delayed compensation

The Polish government is planning to compensate Jewish proprietors whose belongings were confiscated by the German occupying forces and then appropriated by Poland's communist government after World War II. The conservative newspaper Rzeczpospolita defends the law, which has been criticised by Jewish organisations on the grounds that it does not go far enough. "Poland is struggling to meet the social requirements of thousands of needy. Accusations that we have not introduced reprivatisation as other countries have done fail to grasp the reasons for the delay. ... The draft law ... does not provide for the restitution of property as the Jewish organisations demand. Instead it stipulates compensation for a percentage of the lost property. ... That will certainly not satisfy those concerned. But we must bear in mind both the possibilities of the state budget and the attitude of ... many Poles, who fail to see why today's generation must bear the costs of Communist injustice."

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