The Confiscations of Jewish Property in Ukraine during World War II and the Problem of Restitution

Abstract

The plundering and extermination of Jews is one of the important problems of modern history, which is still insufficiently studied and requires further thorough academic research both in Ukraine and in the international arena. Therefore, the problems of searching for Jewish property seized during the Holocaust, the search for former owners (or their descendants) are among the insurmountable consequences of World War II. It is hoped that studying and taking into account the mistakes made at that time that led to the catastrophe will allow us to avoid their repetition now and in the future.

The proposed article reveals that currently in Ukraine not enough measures have been taken to return Jewish property illegally seized during the Holocaust or to compensate for its loss. The reasons for this situation were that the Holocaust in the USSR was practically forgotten, not written about, and almost not studied. This topic was practically taboo during the Soviet regime. The situation has changed only since the so-called perestroika and already in the post-Soviet era. Therefore, in Ukraine in recent decades, many projects have appeared dedicated to Jewish history and its terrible pages during the Second World War. Nowadays, the development of such topics is often financed from the state budget and this gives reason to hope for thorough research. Traces of Jewish life have become visible again, memorials have been erected and mass graves have been restored, that is, an important fundamental approach has become the study of the pages of Ukrainian Jews as an integral part of the history of Ukraine.

However, there is still only a small number of works whose authors analyze the topic of confiscations of property from Ukrainian Jews. The author of the article sees a positive trend in the fact that more and more projects and publications are appearing that examine Jewish traces at the local and microhistorical levels, this is a study of the robbery of Jews in Kyiv, Berdychiv, Zhytomyr, Ruzhyn, in the towns of Volhynia and many others.

At the same time, the vast majority of those who were lucky enough to survive and experience this terrible tragedy of humanity have not yet been able to return the property seized during World War II, and they have not been paid compensation. The article correctly reveals the state of work on this problem in Ukraine, shows individual successes and obstacles that hinder restitution or make it impossible to implement it at all. The legislative framework is outlined, its current shortcomings are shown, and recommendations are made to improve the possibilities of solving a whole range of tasks that would make restitution real and inevitable.