The Lithuanian government announced a decision to postpone for one year reparations for Jewish property confiscated during World War II and held by the state during the period of Soviet rule.
A government spokesman in Vilna said that due to the economic crisis, the payments would start three years from now and would continue for ten years.
According to the plan the state will pay the Jewish community a sum equivalent to $46 million — approximately one-third of the value of Jewish property confiscated during the period of Nazi rule. The Jewish community is remonstrating against plans to compensate only for confiscated property, but not homes owned by Jews.
Twenty-five US congressmen are demanding that Poland and Lithuania pass legislation to allow the restoration of all the property taken away from Holocaust survivors. The move is being led by Robert Wexler (Dem - Florida), who serves on the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee. The Polish Jewish community was very large, and its assets were also very large.
