[Editor's Note: The following article was received from
the British Embassy in Israel.]
During the Second World War the British Government
confiscated property in the UK belonging to "enemy aliens."
For this purpose, an enemy alien was anyone living in a
country at war with Britain, or in the territory occupied by
an enemy of Britain. The intention at the time was to deny to
Britain's enemies the benefits of the property.
Some of the `enemy aliens' in question were not supporters of
the Nazis. On the contrary, they were victims. In some cases,
they had deposited the property in Britain to ensure it was
not used by the Nazis.
After the war, the property was dealt with under various
international Peace Treaties and Financial Agreements. Most
claimants who were resident in occupied territories had their
property returned although the process was less
straightforward for the Eastern Bloc countries. The former
enemy countries agreed to compensate their residents as part
of the reparation process.
But there were some who, for various reasons, were not
compensated. The British Government initiated a scheme to
compensate those who had been victims of Nazi persecution,
but although this scheme was well intentioned, some claims
were dealt with in an insensitive manner. The present
Government has therefore established a new compensation
scheme. The main points are as follows:
Any victims of Nazi persecution who had property
in the UK confiscated by the UK Government under the Trading
With the Enemy legislation, and who have not already been
compensated, will be eligible to make a claim;
The UK Government will pay compensation on basis
of wartime values uprated to today's values in respect of
valid claims to the original owners or their heirs;
The scheme will be administered by the Enemy
Property Claims Assessment Panel (EPCAP). This will be quite
independent of the government. Each claim will be assessed by
three members of the Panel. I will normally act as chairman,
and the other two members will have between them experience
of financial matters and an understanding of belonging to a
minority community.
Did you, or your relatives, have property
confiscated in the United Kingdom during the Second World War
under the Trading With the Enemy legislation? Were you or
your relatives, the victims of Nazi persecution? If the
answer to both of these questions is "yes," and you have not
so far received any compensation, then you may have the right
to be considered for compensation under the UK Government's
claim scheme to compensate victims of Nazi persecution who
were classed as enemies during the Second World War and did
not have their property returned.
To help owners and their descendants identify property which
may be subject to a claim, the UK Government has created the
Internet site: www.enemyproperty.gov.uk. It now contains a
list of over 30,000 records of those whose property was
confiscated. The records cover former residents of Bulgaria,
the former Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Japan,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and the former Yugoslavia.
In addition, there is a list of people from `other countries'
including those it was not possible to trace.
Since there may be more than one claim in respect of the same
property, it will not be possible to pay compensation until
it is reasonably certain that all the competing claims are
before the Panel. In order that payment will not be delayed
indefinitely, it is necessary to provide that for a claim to
be considered the Panel must be made aware of it before 30
September 1999. (Late claims may be admitted in exceptional
circumstances.)
If you think you have grounds for a claim, write to the EPCAP
Secretariat at the address below. They will advise you about
your eligibility and send you a claim form. If you do not
have access to the Internet, the Secretariat can tell you
whether there is a record of the property. Alternatively, you
can download a copy of the claim form from the Internet
website and send it by surface mail to the EPCAP Secretariat.
Enquiries to EPCAP can also be emailed from the Website.
Enemy Property Claims Assessment Panel
Bay 116-118
10 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0NN
Telephone: +44 171-215 3485; Fax +44 171-215 3487; Email:
property.enemy@frmd.dti.gov.uk
