Polish president approves law to curb WWII-era claims

WARSAW: Poland’s president on Saturday approved a law that will severely curb claims on properties seized after World War II, defying strong opposition from Israel and the United States.

The law sets a 30-year time limit on challenges to property confiscations -- many of them relating to Poland’s once thriving Jewish community.

Since confiscations mostly occurred during the Communist era in the aftermath of the war, the law will effectively block many possible claims.

President Andrzej Duda told Poland’s PAP news agency that hoped the law would end an "era of legal chaos" and "reprivatisation mafias".

The government says it will restore legal certainty to the property market and block false claims.

When parliament passed the law this week, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had asked Duda not to sign it.

Lapid said it "damages both the memory of the Holocaust and the rights of its victims".

"I will continue to oppose any attempt to rewrite history, and to promote concessions that come at the expense of the Holocaust, of the Jewish people or the rights of Holocaust victims," he said.

Blinken said he was "deeply concerned" and urged Poland to approve a comprehensive law to cover confiscated property claims -- something other countries in Central and Eastern European have done.