Slovak Jews press property claims Slovak Jews press government to pay for wartime property seizures
By Magnus Bennett
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
January 24, 2001
PRAGUE, — Slovak Jewish leaders are optimistic that a
commission will soon be established to consider compensation claims for
property seized from Slovak Holocaust victims.
Slovakia's Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities has been
pressing the government to set up a commission for the past year without
success.
But following a meeting with Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda last
week, Slovakia's Jewish leaders said they believed the government was taking
the matter seriously.
Dzurinda promised the Jewish leadership that ``the government will
talk about the issue at its next meeting and that a commission should be
established in the near future,'' said Jozef Weiss, director of the Central
Union.
Weiss said the Central Union wanted the commission to include local
and international Jewish representatives as well as government officials.
Participants at the meeting also discussed the issue of persuading
Germany to pay compensation for the millions of dollars the wartime Slovak
government allegedly stole from Jews and paid the Nazis to transport more
than
58,000 Jews to death camps during the war.
Last year, the Central Union discussed the issue with officials from
Germany when German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited Slovakia.
The Central Union claims Germany reneged on a promise to hold
further talks within two months.
In October, Slovakia's Jewish leaders launched a lawsuit against
Germany, claiming payment of as much as $3.9 million they say was paid to
the
Third Reich by the Nazi-puppet Slovak state.
A Berlin court is slated to hear the case at the end of March.
