Worldwide Effort Launched to Identify Jewish Personal Property Confiscated by Nazis

Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce - Project HEART

JERUSALEM, February 23, 2011 - A new Holocaust era restitution project was announced today to identify
the victims whose assets were confiscated by the Nazis.

    (Photo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110223/CG51872-a)
    (Logo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110223/CG51872LOGO-f)

An initiative of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), with the support of
the Government of Israel, Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce - Project
HEART - aims to provide the tools, strategy, and information to enable the
Government of Israel, the project, and its partners to bring about a small
measure of justice to eligible heirs of Jewish victims, the victims
themselves, and the Jewish people.

At this initial stage, Project HEART is focusing on identifying
individuals with potential claims regarding the following types of private
property for which no restitution was received after the Holocaust era: (1)
private property that was located in countries that were controlled by the
Nazi forces or Axis powers at any time during the Holocaust era; and (2)
private property that belonged to Jewish persons as defined by Nazi/Axis
racial laws; and (3) private property that was confiscated, looted, or
forcibly sold by the Nazi forces or Axis powers during the Holocaust era.

"Many victims of the Holocaust returned to their homes to find that they
had no ability to recover their own property," said Natan Sharansky, Jewish
Agency for Israel's Chairman. "Project HEART is a general comprehensive
program that is launched to gather information with the eventual purpose of
receiving compensation for property looted, stolen, or forcibly sold during
the Holocaust."

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 occupied by the Nazi forces
or Axis powers during the Holocaust era are eligible. The only limitation for
application is if restitution has been made to a victim or the victim's heirs
for that property after the Holocaust era; then they are not eligible for
further restitution in connection with that property.

"It is not necessary to have evidence of property ownership to be
eligible to apply. If individuals believe they owned or were beneficiaries of
such property, they should fill out the Questionnaire," stated Anya
Verkhovskaya, Project Director.

Eligible properties for Project HEART include private properties of all
kinds:

(1) IMMOVABLE PROPERTY, an item of property that cannot be moved without
destroying or altering it. This includes items of real estate such as
developed land, including any buildings on it, and land without buildings.

(2) MOVABLE PROPERTY, any property that can be moved from one location to
another. This may include art, Judaica, livestock, professional tools,
precious metals, precious stones, jewelry, and other movable property.

(3) INTANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY, personal property that cannot actually
be moved, touched, or felt but instead represents something of value. This
may include negotiable instruments such as stocks, bonds, insurance policies,
savings accounts, registered patents, dowry policies, and other intangible
personal property. It may also include negative assets-debts and liabilities
owed to the individual-such as outstanding loans and mortgages.

"Because of the immeasurable damage that was done to Jewish individuals
and communities from the time their property was confiscated, Project HEART
was put together as an initiative to reach out to those whose pain we can
never imagine, but whom we can assist in the process of gathering data, which
will hopefully and ultimately aid them in retrieving what is rightfully
theirs," said Bobby Brown of JAFI. "Belated, yet vital steps to partially
redress the terrible wrongdoing committed during the Holocaust era in
relation to asset restitution are now being taken with Project HEART."

A simple eligibility process has been established. To participate,
individuals only need to fill out the Questionnaire that may be found on the
website www.heartwebsite.org.

Questionnaires will be processed based on agreements with relevant
governments or authorities in their efforts to achieve restitution.

Contact Anya Verkhovskaya, Project HEART Director, at
press@heartwebsite.org or +1-414-961-7417 or visit
www.heartwebsite.org for more information.

Anya Verkhovskaya, Project HEART Director, +1-414-961-7417, press at heartwebsite.org