Position Paper on Restitution in Former Yugoslavia

Abstract

Approximately 82,000 Jews lived in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before the Holocaust. Only approximately 15,000 survived (Romano 1980, 573-590). The murder of Jews in Yugoslavia was accompanied by the wholesale expropriation of Jewish communal and private property. Almost 70 years after the Holocaust, the mission of providing a small measure of justice to the victims through the return of their property is far from complete. This World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) position paper is prepared for the conference on Nationalization, Confiscation, and Restitution in Belgrade, Serbia. It reviews the current state of restitution of private property, Jewish communal property, heirless formerly-Jewish owned property, and Jewish cultural property that was confiscated or sold under duress during the Holocaust and/or subsequently nationalized under the communist regime in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, other than Serbia...

U Kraljevini Jugoslaviji je pre Holokausta živelo oko 82.000 Jevreja. Preživelo ih je samo oko 15.000 (Romano 1980, 573-590). Ubistvo Jevreja u Jugoslaviji pratila je velika eksproprijacija jevrejske javne i privatne imovine. Skoro 70 godina nakon Holokausta, misija obezbeđivanja pravde žrtvama kroz povratak njihove imovine daleko je od završene. Ovaj stav Svetske jevrejske organizacije za restituciju (VJRO) pripremljen je za konferenciju o nacionalizaciji, konfiskaciji i restituciji u Beogradu, Srbija. U njemu se razmatra trenutno stanje restitucije privatne imovine, jevrejske zajedničke imovine, imovine koja je ranije bila u vlasništvu Jevreja bez naslednika i jevrejskih kulturnih dobara koja su konfiskovana ili prodata pod prinudom tokom Holokausta i/ili naknadno nacionalizovana pod komunističkim režimom u zemljama bivša Jugoslavija, osim Srbije...