RE: [Cz-L] Should Jews live in Czernowitz?

Ilana: I don't know!

I've been to Ukraine only once, for 10 days in Kiev, to install computers=
. I really liked the Ukrainian journalists and engineers I got to know ther=
e, and the people I met seemed to be rather like the Czechs were 20 years a=
go, anxious to get democracy established and become a just and open society=
; one very good thing I noticed was that people of the type I met considere=
d antisemitism a shameful relic of the past.

Assuming that Ukraine has a full-scale law of restitution =96 maybe it does=
 not, but I=92d think there=92s a good chance that it does =96 you=92d have=
 to present your legal evidence to a local court. However, the Tymoshenko c=
ase makes me fear that the judiciary is not very independent, and growth of=
 the Svoboda (=91Freedom=92) party, very like Jobbik in Hungary, exactly in=
 the West of Ukraine, makes me fear that if a case came to court involving =
a claim by Jews for recovery of property in Chernivtsy in use by generation=
s of non-Jewish Ukrainians, there wouldn=92t be a very good chance of its b=
eing decided in the Jews=92 favour.

Maybe this is pessimistic. You=92d have to talk to an international lawyer =
with experience of Ukrainian legislation and legal procedure, or indeed a U=
krainian lawyer =96 I=92m writing about something I really don=92t know eno=
ugh about. However, I couldn=92t agree more with you and anyone else who wa=
nts to make the attempt at recovery of what should still be theirs. If enou=
gh people make it, perhaps a wider movement towards such recovery or restit=
ution will gain the advantage of =91momentum=92.

Charles Polak
mailto:charles.polak_at_bbc.co.uk

From: Ilana Gordon [mailto:ilana_at_wordwizardsinc.com]
Sent: 21 January 2013 20:26
To: Charles Polak
Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Should Jews live in Czernowitz?

Hi Charles,

I am very curious about your "restitution." We have papers from the Ukrania=
n government showing ownership of my grandparents in both Lviv and Czernowi=
tz. Is there any chance to get restitution there?

I look forward to your reply.

Ilana Gordon
On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 1:29 PM, Charles Polak <charles.polak_at_bbc.co.uk> wr=
ote:
With my 'restituted' family house in Olomouc, albeit with 6 low-rent tenant=
s (now 2 zero-rent ones: my wife and me!), I count myself incredibly lucky,=
 and hugely grateful to my late mother's efforts and the Czech state. Have =
any of you Czernowitzers made a serious attempt at getting this kind of res=
titution? Is it a non-starter?

Charles Polak
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Received on 2013-01-22 08:06:52