B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin is serving as a consultant to the U.S. delegation, and he will be joined by President Moishe Smith and Chairman of the Executive Dennis Glick.

B’nai B’rith is a founding member of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, which is actively involved in negotiations for restitution of communal and private properties stolen during the Holocaust.

“There is a great urgency now to the task of returning stolen Jewish property,” Smith said. “The survivors and in some cases, even their heirs, are now at an advanced age, and soon there will be no eyewitnesses left. It is imperative that this conference follows through on restoring property.”

During World War II, Nazis stole homes, stores, schools, factories, and even synagogues, which were later acquired by Nazi-allied and occupied nations after Germany’s defeat. Efforts by these devastated Jewish communities to revive themselves were harmed by not having properties returned or not being properly compensated for the stolen property – property which had often been the center of Jewish life in a community. Although property restitution can never make amends for the loss of 6 million human lives, it’s a moral obligation, and this powerful acknowledgment of loss cannot be completed without government intervention.

“For too long, too many nations have not followed through on their commitments to restoring property stolen by the Nazis,” Mariaschin said. “It is time to return stolen property, or to make fair compensation to the owners or their heirs.”