The Ministry of Justice last week distributed a draft bill for handling the property of Holocaust victims in Israel with no heirs. The bill will establish a government company to handle the property according to the provisions of the law.
Property in this category is estimated in the tens of millions of shekels, and may amount to even more. The custodian general is currently responsible for the property, which is in the hands of private entities, headed by the banks and real estate companies. The property includes real estate, bank accounts, securities, movable property, and insurance polices.
Special rules will apply to the proposed government company. Its purpose will be defined as the restoration of Holocaust victims’ property, and the channeling of that property for aid and memorials. The property will be transferred from the custodian general and private entities to the new company, which will take practical measures to collect it.
The company will search for heirs. Among other things, it will extensively publicize the list of properties in Israel and overseas, and will call on heirs to submit claims. Examination of claims will be lenient, and decisions can be appealed to an appeals committee.
The draft bill authorizes the company to use property for which no heirs are found for aid to Holocaust victims, and to support memorials for the Holocaust and its victims, while retaining a fund for future claims. An advisory committee composed of representatives of Holocaust survivors and other public representatives will work together with the company.
The bill is being proposed as the Knesset Parliamentary Inquiry Committee for the Location and Restitution of Property of Holocaust Victims is discussing the property of Holocaust victims in Israel. The committee has postponed the publication of its report on Holocaust victim’s property held by the banks. The committee has also begun to examine the question of real estate, but will probably not finish its handling of it before it is disbanded at the end of the year, as decided by Knesset speaker MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud).
Most Holocaust victims’ property in Israel arrived in the 1930s, when thousands of Jews transferred their money, or bought land here. Some of these transactions were made out of Zionist motives; others in order to lay an economic foundation for moving to Israel later.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on June 14, 2004