Duda’s statement said he had gone into the matter and decided to sign the law to end legal uncertainty and fraud over unclear property, even though decades had passed since the end of World War II.
“I definitely reject it [ar likumu saistīto] rhetoric. (..) Linking this law to the Holocaust gives me strong objections, “the Polish president said.
“I am convinced that my signature marks the end of an era of legal chaos, an era of reproduction mafias, uncertainty for millions of Poles and a lack of respect for the fundamental rights of our citizens. I believe in a country that protects its citizens from injustice,” the statement said.
A few hours later, Israel withdrew the authorized clerk in Poland, protesting against Duda’s decision to sign the law. “Poland approved an immoral, anti-Semitic law today, and this is not the first time it has done so,” Israeli Foreign Minister Jaira Lapida said in a statement.
“Tonight, I instructed the Plenipotentiary at our embassy in Warsaw to return immediately to Israel for consultations indefinitely,” Lapid said.
“The new Israeli ambassador to Poland, who was scheduled to travel to Warsaw, will remain in Israel for the time being,” Lapida said in a statement.
It also said the Israeli Foreign Ministry would advise the Polish ambassador to Israel, who is currently on leave, to “continue on leave”.
“He should use this time to explain to Poles what the Holocaust means to Israelis,” Lapid said.
“Poland has become an anti-democratic and illiberal country tonight that does not respect the greatest tragedy in human history,” the Israeli Foreign Minister stressed.
“The world cannot remain silent. Israel and the Jewish world will certainly not remain silent,” Lapid added.
It has already been reported that the new law provides for a 30-year period within which administrative decisions on the expropriation of property, mostly taken by the Polish communist regime after the Second World War, can be challenged in court.
The new law was condemned by Israeli and US foreign ministers on Wednesday.
“I condemn the law passed by the Polish parliament today, which is detrimental to both the memory of the Holocaust and the rights of the victims,” Israeli Foreign Minister Jair Lapid said.
“I will continue to resist any attempt to rewrite history (..) Poland knows what the right thing is to repeal this law,” Lapid promised.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said his country was “deeply concerned that the Polish parliament today passed a law severely restricting the ability of Holocaust survivors and their families, as well as other Jewish and non-Jewish owners, to obtain restitution of property unjustly confiscated during the Polish Communist era.” .
“We call on President Dudu not to sign the law or, in accordance with the president’s authority, to pass the law to the Polish Constitutional Court,” Blinken said.
Proponents of the law believe that it will provide greater clarity on property rights and eliminate the existing problem of corruption and fraudulent claims with forged documents.
Although this law applies to property owned by Jews and other nationalities and their heirs, opponents of the law believe that it will disproportionately affect Jews, who have often been late in filing their claims.
In Poland, six million of its citizens, half of them Jews, were killed during World War II. After the war, the communist regime nationalized a large number of properties that had been abandoned because the owners had been killed or fled.
After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, Poland did not adopt a comprehensive law on restitution of property, as was adopted in other Central and Eastern European countries. The former owners or their heirs could file claims in court.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in June that “the possibility of challenging a decision of the state authorities cannot be unlimited in time”.
