Terezin Declaration

Guidelines and Best Practices / Immovable Property Review Conference / ESLI

WJRO was an important participant in the 2009 Holocaust Era Assets Conference in Prague. At the conference, WJRO and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) jointly presented a major report reviewing the status of Holocaust-era confiscated communal and private immovable property in individual countries. WJRO and the Claims Conference also presented the principal reports on looted art and Judaica at the conference.

The Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues was approved by 47 countries at the conclusion of the Prague Conference and announced a program of activities geared towards ensuring assistance, redress and remembrance for victims of Nazi persecution.

Participating countries emphasized the importance of providing restitution for communal and individual immovable property:

Noting the importance of restituting communal and individual immovable property that belonged to the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah) and other victims of Nazi persecution, the Participating States urge that every effort be made to rectify the consequences of wrongful property seizures, such as confiscations, forced sales and sales under duress of property, which were part of the persecution of these innocent people and groups, the vast majority of whom died heirless.