Jews from BiH claim assets of 6 billion KM, and the law on restitution still does not exist

The law on restitution to return the property to Jews in BiH during the Second World War has not yet been adopted and, besides Poland, our country is the only signatory to the Theresa Declaration that has not yet begun to repay this debt to the Jewish community.

The value of assets that were seized from Jews in BiH from 1941 to 1945 is estimated at close to 6 billion KM. Prior to the war, 14,000 Jews lived in BiH, whom the Ustasha-Nazi government during the war took away all the property that was nationalized during the socialism, and later privatized. All these processes have led to the inability to restore this property to real owners without a law on restitution.

"Regarding the restitution in BiH, nothing has been done and we are the only country in the region that did nothing to restore property seized during the Holocaust and after that in the socialist period of Yugoslavia", President of the Jewish Community in BiH, Jakob Finci. The law on restitution was passed in 2000 in BiH, but only at the Serbian level, and then the then High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, put it out of force because the issue of property should be dealt with throughout BiH.

The draft law that was supposed to be passed at the state level never passed in the Parliamentary Assembly, and on the question of who had obstructed him at that time, Finci said it was difficult to say. Then removed from the agenda, for 15 years the law has not been considered. Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Igor Crnadak said at a conference in the European Parliament in April this year that he would do everything to raise the issue of property restitution, which is one of the prerequisites for joining the EU, but to date, nothing has been done. The Finns find it questionable as to how one man is able to raise this issue and may be a problem that the parent party does not support it in that intention.

The condition of joining the European Union

Aware of the fact that in our country little is being dealt with without the pressure of the international community, which is the main initiator of all movements, Finci believes that this problem will only be taken seriously when it becomes impossible to avoid it in the process of joining the European Union.

"As we approach the EU, I expect this to become one of the items on the agenda, because without returning property we can not enter Europe, because the property, private property, is a sanctuary in Western Europe," Finci said, adding that the property I have to return it because it's inevitable, either for two or ten years. She points out that, since the pre-election campaign has already begun, it is very certain that no one will propose a return of property in the near future.The Ministry of Justice has drafted a law on restitution, but it has not yet been pledged. As the summer break comes, autumn is likely to have nothing to do with this issue, and since autumn, everyone will be engaged in elections, so it's hard to believe that in the next year, anything will be done about the return of property.

The tycoons profit

"It is clear that the decision on this should be taken by those who use the property that is nationalized and it is certain that it will be difficult to vote for it," Finci said, adding that the most beneficiaries of this situation are the new rich, the tycoons who have become rich in dishonesty Way. Restitution would greatly facilitate the financing of the Jewish community, which, in addition to the self-contribution of its members, is currently financed by applying to all grants provided by municipalities, cantons or entities. The total value of the total restitution property in BiH is $ 55 billion and relates to nearly a million hectares of land and three million square meters of business and residential space. Besides the Jewish, the rest of the three religious communities in BiH are most interested in the return.

• 17 Jul, 2017
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