Compensation crunch
Research carried out at the request of the Israeli government has re-ignited the debate over pre-war property compensation. It found that property belonging to individual Jewish Poles before World War II is now worth $30 (zł.95) billion - more than three times the revenue of Poland's largest company, PKN Orlen.
In the next few days the Israeli government will decide on whether to take an official stance on the issue, but experts agree that the likelihood of Poland ever doling out such an enormous sum is slim.
Krzysztof Łaszkiewicz, a former Vice-Minister of the Treasury and an associate at the National Re-privatization Center (a company which represents former owners in compensation trials), calls the repayment of $30 billion "a fantasy," and Piotr Kadlcik, the president of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, also doubts heirs will ever see so much.
"I don't think it's possible," he says. "Such an amount would be highly damaging to the Polish economy."
The Finance Ministry's own estimates put the figure at closer to just $20 (zł.63) billion, only a small percentage of which is likely to ever be awarded - and probably not until the next government takes office.
However, Kadlcik believes it may be workable for the government to pay back a majority of the damages by spreading the payments out over time, or by giving the heirs special tax status.
"Possibly those compensated would receive less, but then they would pay less in taxes," he says.
There are also some who propose an offset plan, wherein citizens from other countries who receive compensation would agree to re-invest some of their awards back into the Polish economy - an idea which Kadlcik calls "very interesting."
Mirosław Szypowski, leader of the Poland-wide Association of Revindication Organizations, estimates that the state will only have to pay out about zł.3 ($1) billion, since there are very few heirs left to receive any compensation.
"According to Polish law, if there are no heirs, the fortune becomes the property of the state treasury," he told daily Gazeta Wyborcza.
Earlier this year, the government failed to win support for a bill awarding heirs just 15 percent of the worth of lost property. The bill would have made it possible for those holding compensation certificates to acquire stocks and publicly owned real estate, but many rejected the proposal as insufficient.
In the next few days the Israeli government will decide on whether to take an official stance on the issue, but experts agree that the likelihood of Poland ever doling out such an enormous sum is slim.
Krzysztof Łaszkiewicz, a former Vice-Minister of the Treasury and an associate at the National Re-privatization Center (a company which represents former owners in compensation trials), calls the repayment of $30 billion "a fantasy," and Piotr Kadlcik, the president of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, also doubts heirs will ever see so much.
"I don't think it's possible," he says. "Such an amount would be highly damaging to the Polish economy."
The Finance Ministry's own estimates put the figure at closer to just $20 (zł.63) billion, only a small percentage of which is likely to ever be awarded - and probably not until the next government takes office.
However, Kadlcik believes it may be workable for the government to pay back a majority of the damages by spreading the payments out over time, or by giving the heirs special tax status.
"Possibly those compensated would receive less, but then they would pay less in taxes," he says.
There are also some who propose an offset plan, wherein citizens from other countries who receive compensation would agree to re-invest some of their awards back into the Polish economy - an idea which Kadlcik calls "very interesting."
Mirosław Szypowski, leader of the Poland-wide Association of Revindication Organizations, estimates that the state will only have to pay out about zł.3 ($1) billion, since there are very few heirs left to receive any compensation.
"According to Polish law, if there are no heirs, the fortune becomes the property of the state treasury," he told daily Gazeta Wyborcza.
Earlier this year, the government failed to win support for a bill awarding heirs just 15 percent of the worth of lost property. The bill would have made it possible for those holding compensation certificates to acquire stocks and publicly owned real estate, but many rejected the proposal as insufficient.
