Czech Government Refuses to Compensate Expatriates in Ukraine

Text of report in English by Czech national public-service news agency CTK

Prague, 9 April: The Czech government rejected the proposal that former Czechoslovak citizens be compensated for the property they lost when they had to leave Subcarpathian Rus after World War Two in 1945, the government website writes without elaborating.

The proposal will now be discussed by the Chamber of Deputies.

The compensation, proposed by the MPs from the senior ruling Civic Democrats (ODS), the senior opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) and the junior opposition Communists (KSCM), is to amount to 1bn crowns [about 63m dollars] in total.

Transcarpathian Ukraine, previously Subcarpathian Rus, was part of Czechoslovakia from 1919. At the end of World War Two it was ceded to the Soviet Union. Now it is part of Ukraine.

According to the new bill, the Czechoslovak citizens who were not compensated otherwise would have the right to demand a financial compensation for their houses, farms and other commercial premises that existed on January 30, 1946, and for agricultural land and forests they possessed.

This right would also apply to descendants of the original inhabitants, and this is why the number of claimants cannot be estimated.

The compensation level for real estate would be calculated with regard to the current prices, while in the case of land a ten-times higher price than the then value would be paid.

Originally published by CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1042 9 Apr 08.

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