SLOVENIA: HOLOCAUST ISSUES SPECIAL ENVOY VISIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 LJUBLJANA 000121

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/NCE FOR SSADLE, EUR/OHI FOR RUSSELL-NORDBERG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: HOLOCAUST ISSUES SPECIAL ENVOY VISIT
URGES MOVEMENT ON JEWISH RESTITUTION

REF: LJUBLJANA 86

Classified By: COM for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues J.
Christian Kennedy held meetings with Slovene officials and
research institute, diplomatic and Jewish community
representatives February 19 and 20 to press for a fair and
timely resolution of long-standing Jewish communal property
restitution issues. GoS representatives insisted that the
Government has the political will to move forward in a fair
and evenhanded way. Despite tension among parties involved
and the widely diverging views on which properties should
appropriately be included in an ultimate settlement, there is
hope that a soon-to-be-completed documentary study funded by
the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) will provide
a substantive basis for future discussions. WJRO Director
Dan Mariaschin is scheduled to visit Ljubljana after
completion of the study, to begin negotiations with the GoS
on the properties and beneficiaries to be compensated, the
overall amount of the settlement, and creation of a legal
mechanism to allow the GoS to pay any claims. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues J. Christian
Kennedy met on February 19 and 20 with representatives of the
Jewish Community of Slovenia (JCS),the Institute for Ethnic
Studies (IES),the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),the
Ministry of Justice (MOJ),the government's Office for
Religious Communities, and officials from the Israeli and
Vatican diplomatic representations in Slovenia. Post's
PolOff and ConOff accompanied Kennedy to the meetings.

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GoS Saying Right Things About Jewish Property Restitution
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3. (SBU) In a meeting with Janko Koren, Chief of Staff for
Minister of Justice Lovro Sturm, Koren was clearly well
informed about the topic, promising to resolve issues in a
"fair and evenhanded way" that will show the GoS's good will
towards Slovenia's small but fragile Jewish community.
Koren, who noted his more than 50 years of friendship with
Minister Sturm, spoke of the intense complexity of the issue,
MOJ efforts to move forward, and the roadblocks that have
stymied progress over the past few years. He detailed a
failed effort for MOJ researchers to work with Institute for
Ethnic Studies researchers on a joint project to identify
Jewish property, blaming the problem on the unwillingness of
IES researchers to share information. He briefly discussed
the MOJ's study of the issue, titled "Jewish Property in
Slovenia in the 20th Century," and told Kennedy that he
eagerly awaited the results of the IES's separate study to
compare notes. Koren was aware that WJRO Director Dan
Mariaschin is tentatively scheduled to travel to Slovenia in
mid-March and felt that a visit by Mariaschin will be much
more useful if it comes after the GoS has adequate time to
review the IES study. NOTE: Koren made clear that the GoS
preferred to defer any meetings with the JCS or WJRO until
officials have a chance to review the IES study, saying that
a meeting should be scheduled two weeks after the IES study
is released. He also expressed preference that Mariaschin
not meet with the full Commission for Religious Questions,
saying that it would make planning for his visit
significantly more complicated and would result in a less
useful outcome. END NOTE.


4. (C) Koren talked in detail about the fact that the issue
only concerned heirless and communal property, as opposed to
private property with heirs, which should be handled through
the normal property denationalization process. He said any
settlement on communal and heirless property was likely to be
"financial and maybe some property," noting that the GoS
would like to give a major building, for example Vila
Moskovic (a home in Ljubljana legally sold after the war,
nationalized and used by high level communist party
organizations, and currently occupied by the Social Democrats
Party) to the JCS as a sign of good will. He detailed the
way forward as a series of steps: beginning with negotiations
on the properties in question (using the MOJ and IES reports
as starting points),moving to an agreement on the settlement
amount and the proper beneficiary (Koren said WJRO would be
the "most likely" candidate rather than the Jewish Community
of Slovenia),and then producing a draft law to create a
"legal basis for the settlement." Koren's message throughout
the meeting was that the GoS intended to do the right thing
by the Jewish community. He concluded by saying that he felt
Slovenia has "the most liberal denationalization laws in all
of Europe," noting that 94.6% percent of all claims have been
adjudicated and saying that many of the remaining cases are
the most difficult, often because of documentation problems.

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Koren also spoke briefly (and unofficially) about a new law
on denationalization -- currently in draft form as the
"Denationalization Completed Act" and reported in reftel --
that would put a deadline on the resolution of claims but
would give those with rejected claims a "second chance" to
appeal. Kennedy urged Koren to move the process forward as
rapidly as the GoS can, and expressed hope that on a return
trip it would be possible to talk about concrete progress.


5. (SBU) Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials Roman Kirn,
Head of the Americas Department, and Bogdan Benko, Director
General for Bilateral Affairs, told Kennedy that the GoS has
the "political will" to move forward on resolving
long-standing Jewish property restitution issues. MFA
officials also said Slovenia likely would join the Task Force
for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education,
Remembrance, and Research, at least initially as an observer.
Kennedy commented that he had discussed details of
countries' joining the task force with Slovenia's Ambassador
in Washington, Samuel Zbogar. Kennedy told MFA officials
that foreign ministries are generally the best participants
for governments in the plenary meetings, but the substantive
work on education and research gets done in the working
groups where NGOs and academics design the high quality
programs for which the Task Force is well-known.

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Jewish Community: Small, Fragile, and Looking for Money to
Help it Grow
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6. (SBU) Jewish Community of Slovenia President Andrej Kozar
Beck and Slovenian Chief Rabbi Ariel Hadad told Kennedy about
efforts over the last decade to resuscitate the Jewish
community, including cooperation with the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) to meet the basic needs
of the community in the late 1990s (including an office,
torah, chief rabbi, etc.),and cooperation with other Jewish
communities in the region, such as in Trieste and Rijeka.
Their efforts, according to Kozar Beck, include public
gatherings for the biggest Jewish religious holidays,
lectures, study groups, Hebrew classes, and other activities.
They said the community had largely avoided
fractionalization (because of its small size) and members are
able, with some difficulty, to abide by religious rules like
keeping kosher with the assistance of nearby larger Jewish
communities. Rabbi Hadad said that he had personally never
been subject to anti-Semitism in Slovenia and that generally
anti-Semitism is not expressed in everyday life in Slovenia
(which he said was in stark contrast to his experiences in
his native Italy and in Croatia). However, when asked if
anti-Semitism exists, he said that he believed that "it
exists in Slovenia as much as anti-Semitism is always alive,
everywhere." He noted that "when things get important,
roadblocks tend to come up" and contrasted the less
cooperative feeling between the JCS and the GoS with the
highly cooperative and close relationship the GoS maintains
with the Catholic Church and strong GoS efforts to push
forward on Catholic Church property denationalization
efforts. Rabbi Hadad spoke about his desire to create
Holocaust programs for Slovenian teachers, citing the success
of similar programs in Italy that include a one day "crash
course" of basic education.


7. (C) In response to questions about Holocaust survivors'
needs, Kozar Beck told Kennedy that the approximately 10
remaining Holocaust survivors in Slovenia are very old but
well cared for by family, and that helping survivors is not
an issue. He said that in terms of the needs of the JCS,
"the only need right now is money," noting that support from
the AJJDC was helpful but modest, that both he and Rabbi
Hadad funded many events out of pocket, and that after 10
years, the JCS simply needs more funds to support its
programs and help it grow. Rabbi Hadad backed Kozar Beck
saying that "while it is sad to have to talk about money,
when the question arises about how we grow the community, the
answer is money."

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Personality Problems in JCS Muddy the Waters
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8. (C) In a separate meeting with Israeli DCM Galit Ronen
(based out of Vienna, covering Slovenia),Ronen spoke
critically of Kozar Beck, saying that he was a "personality
problem" and was uncooperative with the researchers
conducting the WJRO-funded study at the IES, refusing to
share the JCS's archives and making nasty allegations against
them. She expressed significant concern that Kozar Beck
"just wants to make money off of the (Jewish restitution)

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issue," has "grand plans" for the settlement money, and is
"falling into all of the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes."
She was worried about a "worst case scenario" publicity
problem if the negotiations go wrong, saying that it could
generate stereotypical anti-Semitic feelings in the Slovenian
populace. At a dinner hosted by DCM Maryruth Coleman on
February 19, Kozar Beck repeated allegations he has made
previously to EmbOffs alleging that GoS agents attempted to
kill him after a particularly contentious meeting with GoS
representatives. He also suggested that documentary proof of
Jewish property ownership was very meager but argued that
"justice" rather than concrete evidence should be the basis
of a generous GoS settlement.


9. (C) Ronen added that she felt Minister of Justice Lovro
Sturm was a problem as well, citing the past correspondence
between his office and Dan Mariaschin that some members of
the Jewish community in Slovenia have interpreted as
anti-Semitic. Ronen said the GoI position was to step aside
and let the WJRO take the lead, but that she would be
surprised if the WJRO is able to negotiate a large
settlement. She indicated that the specifics of any
settlement (properties, financial figures, etc.) was of
significantly less concern to the GoI than the principle that
the GoS would take care of its Jewish Community. She also
said the GoS would "be happy to make this issue disappear"
and opined that this might spur the GoS to cut a deal and pay
a settlement. She reiterated that she believed making a
long-term commitment to educating Slovenes about the
Holocaust and tolerance was far more important than a rich
settlement. Despite her negative feelings toward Sturm, she
said he had exhibited "no clear anti-Semitism."


10. (C) Hannah Starman, the lead researcher on the
WJRO-funded study being conducted at the Institute for Ethnic
Studies, agreed with Ronen's assessment of Kozar Beck and the
GoS in a separate meeting with the COM on February 16. She
spoke of her frustration with Kozar Beck for limiting her
access to the JCS archive and acting in a hostile manner
towards her after she nearly defeated him in an election for
the presidency of the JCS. She said that she had also been
blackballed by the GoS, having her loyalties questioned by
the head of the Institute for Ethnic Studies and having her
security clearance renewal denied (eliminating her primary
source of income: freelance interpretation for the Prime
Minister's Office). Starman told COM that she will complete
the IES's Jewish property study in mid-March and then depart
for a new position in Luxembourg in April because she "no
longer has a professional future in Slovenia."

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Moving Forward: Reconciling Studies, Crafting a Settlement
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11. (SBU) Currently the MOJ's is the only study of Slovenian
Jewish property available. Koren indicated that it was the
GoS "starting point" but that he was looking forward to
seeing the IES study upon its completion. IES researchers
Starman and her collaborator Irena Sumi criticized the MOJ
study, telling PolOff it is incomplete, poorly informed, and
potentially offensive. They also said that it appears to
exclude as much Jewish property in Slovenia as possible.
Starman said the MOJ study used data from a previous, amateur
study conducted by two young members of the Slovenian Jewish
Community.


12. (SBU) On February 20 at IES, Starman told Kennedy that
the IES study was planned for completion by mid-March (in
time for Mariaschin's tentative visit),with a full,
searchable database of scanned property records to be
completed at a later date. According to more recent
information from the WJRO, the study completion date will be
slightly later, in mid to late April. She outlined the
study's scope, saying that it would cover communal property,
industrial property, individual property of survivors,
individual property of survivors who left for Israel, and
individual property that was left heirless when all known
owners and potential heirs perished in the Holocaust. The
IES study will be comprehensive, including all of the
properties discussed in the MOJ study, but potentially many
more. It will address several of the complexities of the
issue including people who were forced to sign away their
property and their rights to it upon emigrating to Israel,
and people who declared themselves to be German rather than
Jewish in order to ensure their survival during the war.
However, given that Slovenia's Jewish Community has always
been small, and that moveable property was limited (i.e.,
Slovenian Jews did not possess extensive art collections,
religious relics, etc.) it will likely be several hundred
records, not several thousand.

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13. (C) COMMENT: Nearly two years after Andrej Kozar Beck met
with the GoS to discuss Jewish property restitution, the
parties will come together again this spring with
significantly more information (some of it conflicting).
Initial conversations on the expanded inventory will
determine whether or not the negotiating sides can
reestablish confidence in each other's willingness to
negotiate in good faith, which has suffered somewhat over the
years. The GoS and other interested parties are clearly
looking to avoid the disastrous previous attempts to discuss
the issue, which resulted in JCS leaders storming out of a
high level meeting, allegations of anti-Semitism, and a long
stalemate in negotiations. GoS officials seem ready to move
on this issue, particularly as they begin planning for the
spotlight of the EU Presidency in 2008, and are saying the
right things. Kozar Beck appears to have changed little in
the past two years and will continue to work for a large
monetary settlement for his community. The dynamics of any
negotiation discussion will be set by GoS and WJRO President
Dan Mariaschin's decision about what parties are in (and
outside) the room, and how local Jewish representatives from
JCS are included in the negotiation and the settlement. If
anyone feels slighted (particularly Kozar Beck) they have the
possibility of seriously disrupting the talks and creating a
public relations problem.


14. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED. Starman, who has extemporaneously
rattled off details about dozens of cases in meetings with
EmbOffs, appears to be more informed than anyone about the
details of Jewish property in Slovenia. Likewise, the IES
study that she and Ms. Sumi are authoring will likely be
comprehensive and fact based. How the IES and MOJ reports
will inform negotiations will depend on whether the GoS and
the Jewish community negotiators decide to proceed by looking
at individual cases or if they decide to pursue a more
general settlement. Both Starman and Ronen stated that Kozar
Beck is far less interested in getting the details right and
far more interested in maximizing a monetary settlement for
the community, regardless of what data that settlement is
based on. Koren, with his talk of "returning" the Moskovic
Vila (a property that Starman reports was legally sold by
heirs of a Holocaust victim and is thus not relevant to
Jewish communal restitution demands) shows that the GoS could
potentially be convinced to develop a settlement that is more
grounded in symbolism than in data (notwithstanding the
potential double entendre such a move would cause given that
the house is currently occupied by the opposition, and former
communist, Social Democrats). Sorting out these issues with
the GoS will almost certainly prove to be difficult, but the
prospect of infighting within the JCS has the potential to
derail all efforts to date. END COMMENT.


15. (U) Mr. Kennedy has reviewed this cable.
ROBERTSON