Skip to main content
HCONRES 228 104th Congress House International Affairs Citizenship Communism Communist countries Compensation (Law) Czech Republic Europe Expropriation Fascism Finance and Financial Sector Foreign Trade and International Finance Foreign banks and banking Government Operations and Politics Government ownership History Immigration Jewish holocaust (1939-1945) Jews Latvia Law

Concerning the return of or compensation for wrongly confiscated foreign properties in formerly Communist countries and by certain foreign financial institutions.

Introduced: September 27, 1996 Introduced by: Smith, Christopher H. Republican · New Jersey See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Sep 28, 1996
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1788)
Sep 27, 1996
Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
Sep 27, 1996
Introduced in House
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Welcomes the efforts of many post-Communist countries to address the status of plundered properties.

Urges: (1) countries which have not already done so to return plundered properties to their rightful owners or, as an alternative, pay compensation in accordance with principles of justice and in a manner that is just, transparent, and fair; and (2) post-Communist countries to pass and effectively implement laws that provide for restitution of, or compensation for, plundered property.

Calls for: (1) the urgent return of property formerly belonging to Jewish communities as a means of redressing the particularly compelling problems of aging and destitute survivors of the Holocaust; and (2) the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and other countries to remove restrictions which require those whose properties have been wrongfully plundered by Nazi or Communist regimes to reside in or have the country's citizenship from which they now seek restitution or compensation.

Calls upon foreign financial institutions, and the states having legal authority over their operation, that possess wrongfully and illegally property confiscated from Holocaust victims, from residents of former Warsaw Pact states who were forbidden by Communist law from obtaining restitution of such property, and from states that were occupied by Nazi, Fascist, or Communist forces, to assist and to cooperate fully with efforts to restore this property to its rightful owners.

What's happening now September 28, 1996

Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1788)

 Committees of jurisdiction 1