Latvia, Legislation, Real Estate

Under the new legislation, the municipalities that currently own the above properties will be able to turn them over to the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia.

Three of the properties to be returned to the Jewish community are situated in the capital city Riga, one property is situated in the seaside resort Jurmala and one in the western Latvian town of Kandava.

According to the legislation, the restitution of the Jewish properties is intended to amend historical injustice Latvia's Jewish congregations and organizations have suffered during the Holocaust and under the totalitarian Soviet regime in Latvia's territory.

The Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia is set to launch a special foundation that would be tasked with managing the restituted properties, Dmitrijs Krupnikovs, deputy chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia, told LETA earlier.

The properties to be returned to the Jewish organizations are mostly in poor condition, Krupnikovs said. One of them, in Jurmala, most probably will have to be pulled down as it was beyond repair. Restitution would be great from moral perspective but a financial burden on the Jewish community, he said.