Muddy water
Poland and the Czech Republic are still struggling with unresolved claims for property restitution
MORE than ten years after the end of communism in Central Europe, the restitution of property grabbed after the second world war is still a hot potato among Czechs and Poles. The Czech government is at odds with the Roman Catholic church, which has been trying to get back over 200,000 hectares (770 square miles) of land. Earlier this year the Poles' sickly right-wing government at last passed a restitution bill, but the country's ex-communist president, Alexander Kwasniewski, vetoed it in March.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Muddy water”
From the June 9th 2001 edition
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