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From PAC: What Poland Already Has Done on Restitution of World War II Era Private Property

PAC December 18, 2019

Since 1997, Mr. John Czop, now Director of Policy Planning at the POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS'S (PAC) K Street National Office in Washington, DC has been studying and writing about the painful history of Poland and the Poles during World War II. He almost has completed a report for the Congressional Research Service on what several Polish Governments already have done on restitution and compensation of communal religious properties and private property on conquered Polish territory that was despoiled by Nazi Germany and then nationalized by the communists.

Mr. Czop informed the PAC Council of National Directors (CND) at their annual meeting in Chicago, 14-15 November 2019, on how Senate Resolution 447, which is now Public Law 115-171, will be implemented, and how the PAC will respond in defense of Poland.

Readers recall that this law requires the United States Department of State's Office of Holocaust Issues to deliver a report to Congress on how all 47 countries, including Poland, which signed the Terezin Declaration, have complied with its recommendations. Poland regards the Terezin Declaration as non-binding; the United States regards it as binding. Sovereign countries sometimes disagree with each other on their obligations to fulfill international conventions.

The Office of Holocaust Issues report on compliance with the Terezin Declaration will be fact-checked by the Congressional Research Service BEFORE it is read by members of Congress and their staffers. The Polish American Congress's report on what Poland already has done in restitution and compensation of World War II era property will be delivered to the Congressional Research Service soon after this service receives the report from the Office of Holocaust Issues.

Poland and the United States, as NATO allies, strongly agree on bolstering a rules based international system in the present context of Kremlin revanchism, which includes the repeated use of armed force to change internationally recognized borders. Agreement on our shared values of free enterprise and democracy is the foundation for a strong relationship between the United States and Poland and between Poles and Americans.