Helen and Sol Krawitz Holocaust Memorial Education Center

New York, NY, February 16, 2012 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) announced today it is supporting a recently launched effort for restitution of Holocaust-era properties by becoming a co-sponsor of Project HEART (Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce).  Project HEART, an initiative of the Government of Israel, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel, aims to help Jewish Holocaust victims and their heirs seek restitution for personal property confiscated by the Nazi forces or Axis powers during the Holocaust era.

“Project HEART is performing vital work to ensure that Holocaust victims and their heirs achieve restitution for what is rightfully theirs, and has been denied to them for so long,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor. “Project HEART co-sponsors and advocates will play a vital role in this initiative.”

Launched in February 2011, Project HEART seeks to identify Jewish Holocaust victims and their heirs worldwide whose families owned movable, immovable, or intangible personal property that was confiscated, looted, or forcibly sold in countries governed or controlled by the Nazi forces or Axis powers during the Holocaust era.  The only limitation for application is if restitution has already been given for that property since the Holocaust era.  The next stage of Project HEART is to enhance public awareness necessary for the creation of a mechanism to provide compensation for valid claims regarding Holocaust era assets.

ADL encourages local Holocaust victims and their heirs to visit the Project HEART web site at www.heartwebsite.org or call toll free 1-800-584-1559 to learn more about the program.  To participate in Project HEART, individuals need to fill out a questionnaire that can be found on the web site.  A searchable and user-friendly database of two million Jewish property records has been compiled by Project HEART and is also available on the website.