Call for applications for symbolic compensation for immovable private property in Lithuania for the Holocaust survivors

Applications for this compensation will be open until the end of 2023 with payments paid out from 2024 to 2030.

Lithuania, seeking to restore historical justice transferred €37 ($40) million over the last decade to the Good Will Foundation as compensation for Jewish communal and religious property seized by the Nazi and Soviet regimes. 

At the end of the last year, Lithuania took another important step in restoring historical justice. Lithuanian government decided to allocate additional €37 ($40) million in compensation for the illegally expropriated private immovable property: a) for the heirless immovable property taken over into the ownership by the State because it was left without owners or heirs as a result of the Holocaust, b) for the immovable property of Lithuanian Jews or their heirs whose property was not returned in the context of previous restitution legislation. 

Lithuania will pay from €5 million to €10 million of the total €37 million as compensation for eligible Holocaust survivors and their families. The remaining funds represent the Lithuanian government’s acknowledgement of heirless Jewish property, referenced in the 2009 Terezin Declaration.

“The Good Will Compensation Law sets Lithuania apart from most other countries in the region that have yet to take any measure with respect to heirless property,” said Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC Director, International Jewish Affairs. “The funds will have a significant impact on strengthening and supporting Jewish communal life in Lithuania and addressing the welfare needs of the elderly, even though they may only be a fraction of the value of pre-war Jewish property.”