Croatia has announced that it will give land and an office building, in capital city Zagreb, valued at about $4 million, to the city’s Jewish community as restitution for property expropriated from the community during World War II.
According to the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), Zagreb’s Jewish community will receive a six-story building and a surrounding parcel of land, currently owned by the government. The building, in the center part of Zagreb, will replace a building once owned by the city’s Jewish burial society.
The Zagreb Jewish Community has been fighting for years for the return of the original building, which was built in 1927 by the burial society. They first filed a claim back in 1997. The original building being given to the Jewish community now was confiscated by the Nazis during the war, and was later nationalized by Yugoslavia’s Communist government.
The income from the property will help fund the operation of a senior-care facility for Zagreb’s Jewish community, as well as other programs.