Question about aftermath of World War Two

JamesRK

As most of us know, before and during World War Two the Nazis robbed the Jews of their valuables and real estate. Much of the real estate was given to loyal Nazis. Some of the art was returned to the owners.

Was the real estate returned to the owners or their survivors or just continue with the status quo?

gruntled

Just finished looking at a story about Auschwitz that noted that most of the survivors from Poland did not get their homes back.

mark christian

I've read estimates that less than 50% of the confiscated property has been returned. Most of the assets lost in Western Europe have been restored but the old Soviet Bloc has been slow to respond. Poland, Romania and the European parts of the old Soviet Union, particularly Ukraine are trouble spots. These countries had large prewar Jewish populations and were either occupied by the Germans or had puppet government installed by the Germans (Romania) and little of the confiscated property has been returned. In the case of Poland the Jewish property question is a hard sell since millions of Poles have yet to have their own property confiscated by the county's (then) communist government returned.

Twenty years ago there was a huge issue about Swiss banks holding assets worth an estimated $5 billion which was widely believed to be funds seized from Jewish citizens around occupied Europe. Without admitting any guilt, the Swiss settled something like 500,000 claims totaling $1.25 billion and have since considered the matter to be closed.

SG

It's all been given to the Muslims.

hillbille

way the liberals teach things, in a few years WWII will never had happened......

droptop

quote:Originally posted by hillbille
way the liberals teach things, in a few years WWII will never had happened......


Before the final "memory wipe" the heading in text books will read.

The U.S. takes the lead in the indiscriminate killing of Millions of innocent civilians.

mark christian

Much of the real property cannot be returned nor will compensation ever be given. In many cases a house which was sized was leveled and an apartment building constructed on the site or an empty lot may have had an office building or other public structure built on it. This issue is common in the old ComBloc where families have demanded their property rights be restored. Unlike the displaced Jews who were stripped of everything down to the clothes on their backs, these people still have deeds and titles to the property.

Friends of mine in Bulgaria are faced with this exact situation. Prior to the war the family owned an apartment building in Sofia as well as two large lots, all of which were confiscated when the communists took power. After the collapse of the communist government the apartment building was eventually restored to them, but the lots were used to construct a public school. No one is going to tear down the school and Bulgaria is simply too poor to pay any sort of fair compensation, so they are SOL.

alias

A late friend of mine was Czech. He was an older guy who told me during the war he worked with the resistance helping allied aircrews get to allied lines after they were shot down or otherwise landed in occupied territory. Escaped to West Germany by staging an accident in order to get papers to travel. Then on to Australia, and from there to California. Got 3 bachelor's degrees, and substitute taught at the high school until they let him go because the kids couldn't understand his heavily accented English. Interesting guy who seemed to make money on everything he got involved in, mostly because of his work ethic. When the communists stepped out of the picture in Czechoslovakia, he was the first person to take an American flag into the country since World war 2. He had title to the old family house. The government tried to give it back to him, but it had been turned into apartments after during the communist occupation. He said it was in such bad shape he refused to take possession. He did get to start a couple businesses there, but he told me while he could make money there, it had to stay there. So he just reinvested. I don't know what happened to everything he had after he passed. He looked like he was homeless most of the time, but he was apparently worth millions.

TRAP55

quote:Twenty years ago there was a huge issue about Swiss banks holding assets worth an estimated $5 billion which was widely believed to be funds seized from Jewish citizens around occupied Europe. Without admitting any guilt, the Swiss settled something like 500,000 claims totaling $1.25 billion and have since considered the matter to be closed.
Mark, I remember reading a story about the Israeli lady that started that investigation. At first the Swiss tried to deny it existed, and then some whistle blower that had access to all the records for a couple of Swiss banks came forward with a truckload of records showing the Swiss banks had worked with the Nazis. Then it was a quick payoff to avoid war crime prosecutions.

Brookwood

SWISS. Even their cheese has holes in it![:0]

Sparty_76

I worked with a guy back in Michigan a long time ago. He had a long scar right down the middle of his face. From his hairline to his chin. I asked him once how he got it. He told me he got it in the War. He had a thick German accent but I just figured he was on our side as he had been in high school in Michigan before the War. Only later did he tell me he had come over with his parents in 1933 and went to high school here. He went to college at the University of Michigan when he retuned to Germany with his parents to visit his grandparents in the summer of 39. He was drafted while he was there into the German Army. He fought the British in the Infantry in 1940 and then became a pilot in Ju-88 bombers. Was sent to fly in Russia, Africa, and Italy. In the fall of 44 he was flying a mission and the plane was hit. He tried to jump and cut his face getting out of the plane. When he woke up he was in a shell hole surrounded by a US Armor Unit surrounded by Black Troopers. He said his co-pilot was an avid Nazi and yelled you "Black Monkeys!" and ran at the troopers with a Luger. They cut him down with a .50 Browning. My friend raised his hands and yelled I am from Detroit and love the Tigers, and Go Blue!" They took him prisoner and he managed to make it back to Detroit after the war after proving he was never a Nazi. When he was my friend he was a supervisor and had an entire crew of Black foundrymen! They loved his as a boss! One of the best supervisors I ever knew as a fellow supervisor myself. He told me once he kept trying to dessert to our side, and came close a couple times but almost got caught and would have been shot.

select-fire

Most of everyone from WWII is [xx(]