Romania amends law on property restitution with focus on Holocaust survivors

Newsroom 27/04/2016 | 10:33

Romania’s parliament has amended the property restitution law to speed up the process for Holocaust survivors, Reuters informs.

The law states that people certified as Holocaust survivors by entities designated by the Romanian state or other European Union states would have priority for the restitution process.

The draft bill has cleared the Senate last week and will be submitted to a final vote in the Chamber of Deputies next Wednesday. Politicians expect it to win overwhelming support in the lower house, Reuters said.

Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War Two until it changed sides in August 1944, and much of the property seized during the war was later nationalized under communist rule which followed. After the collapse of communist rule, Romania passed laws for returning property to the original owners in the 1990s but red tape prevented legislation from having any real effect.

Romania has a small community of Jewish people, posted at 11,000, while data indicates the pre-war community counted some 800,000 people.