Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues at the US Department of State Thomas Yazdgerdi is in Zagreb.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Željko Reiner, as a representative of Speaker Gordan Jandroković, met with the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues at the US State Department Thomas Yazdgerdi, according to an announcement published on the official website of the Croatian Parliament, reports tportal.hr on September 3, 2017.
The main topic of their meeting was the issue of the restitution of property that was taken away from Jews during the Ustasha and Communist regimes in Croatia. Deputy Speaker Željko Reiner stressed that there was a clear political will to return, if possible, the seized property, or to pay financial compensation.
He noted that the Government of the Republic of Croatia had already returned part of the confiscated property to Jewish communities, pointing out as examples that it was already done in several Croatian towns: Zagreb, Križevci, Osijek, Vukovar and others, according to a statement by the Croatian Parliament.
He emphasised that the government would continue to work actively on the issue and that an interagency working group would be formed, involving all the relevant ministries and other interested parties. Its first task will be to prepare a comprehensive entire database of confiscated assets that would be the basis for all further activities.
Deputy Speaker Reiner also called on Yazdgerdi to help gather the data on the seized property through the work of the World Jewish Restitution Organization.
Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Yazdgerdi praised Croatia’s efforts to resolve this important issue in the best possible way, not just as a gesture of good will, but he also stressed that it would send a clear message of Croatia’s commitment to returning the property to the Jews. He pointed out the Republic of Croatia as an example of a country in which progress has been made in this regard, according to a statement from the Croatian Parliament.
Translated from tportal.hr.
