Elie Wiesel (bottom, center), a Romania-born American novelist, political activist and Holocaust survivor, is recognized as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC, March 3, 2015. Wiesel has been campaigning for several years for Romania for Tuesday's approval legislation to speed the processing of restitution claims, of which more than 40,000 by Romanian Jews have not yet been addressed. File photo by Molly Riley/UPI |
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Before the war, about 800,000 Jews lived in Romania, however 280,000 to 380,000 died after their land and property were seized and they were sent to ghettos or labor camps.
Tens of thousands of restitution claims have been filed since the fall of Romania's communist government in 1989, with more than 40,000 still unaddressed right now.
"This is important because the legislation addresses not only the practical problems, but also acknowledges the history, which is essential," Gideon Taylor, chairman of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, told The New York Times.