Poland, which saw double confiscation by both the Nazi regime and then the subsequent communist regime, supported the Terezin Declaration. Unfortunately,
\nit has been slow to implement the aspirations of the Declaration, if at all. It is also the only European Union country that has not adopted a law on property restitution.<\/p>\n

Let’s go back to Maria Altmann for a moment. Did she succeed in getting justice in an Austrian court? Well, no. The final solution turned out to be arbitration. Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) are agreements between two countries protecting investments made by investors from one contracting state in the territory of the other contracting state. BIT between Poland and Israel came into force on May 6, 1992.<\/p>\n

It would be appropriate to ask whether this agreement is not violated by the inability of a foreign claimant \u2013 in our case from Israel \u2013 to pursue property and compensation claims in a country like Poland. Are international standards, including human rights such as property rights, not being violated?<\/p>\n

In the possible event that Poland is sued, it could argue as a state that claims for property restitution or compensation are not “investments” within the meaning of the BIT, particularly because they date from before the BIT went into effect. However, the answer is that under international law the properties were never legally seized. Similarly, claims for compensation also already existed when the BIT went into effect.<\/p>\n

International arbitration could become a forum in which claimants \u2013 preferably jointly, in a class action \u2013 demand what is rightfully theirs \u2013 their property. A need that states like Poland and its justice system have been unable to address\u2026<\/p>\n

[author_and_contact_info]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe should be reunited with what is rightfully ours\u201d – why reclaiming Jewish property in Poland is not a lost cause The film Woman in Gold, from which the above quote is taken, is based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an Austrian Jewish woman who escaped the Nazis and found a home in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-information-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n