IMMOVABLE PROPERTY REVIEW CONFERENCE

November 26-28, 2012, Prague, Czernin Palace

The conference is held under the auspices of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg.

Conference Co-Chairmen:

Stuart Eizenstat (Special Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for Holocaust Issues, Department of State, United States)

Jiří Schneider (First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic)

November 26

Venue: Czernin Palace

17:45 -18:30 Registration

18:30 – 19:00 Official Opening (Czernin Palace, Great Hall)

19:00 -20:30 Cocktail Reception (Czernin Palace, Winter Garden)

Moderator: Jiří Čistecký (Director of Central European Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic)

Opening remarks:

Jiří Schneider (First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic)

Stuart Eizenstat (Special Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for Holocaust Issues, Department of State, United States)

Norman L. Eisen (Ambassador to the Czech Republic, United States)

Felix Kolmer (Vice-President, International Auschwitz Committee, Czech Republic)

November 27

Venue: Czernin Palace, Great Hall

8:30 - 9:00 Registration and Morning Coffee

9:00 – 9:30 Conference Opening

Moderator: Tomáš Kraus (Executive Director, Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, Czech Republic)

Opening remarks:

Jiří Schneider (First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic)

Colette Avital (Chairwoman, Centre of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, Israel)

9:30 – 11:30 Panel I: Communal and Religious Property

Moderator: Tomáš Kraus (Executive Director, Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, Czech Republic)

Panel Expert: Herbert Block (Assistant Executive Vice President, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, United States)

Country presentations:

Jiří Čistecký (Director of Central European Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic)

Márton Lacsny (Senior Advisor, Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, Hungary)

Emanuelis Zingeris (A Member of the Parliament of Lithuania, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence of Lithuania, Chairman of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes, Lithuania)

Photini Tomai (Director of the Service of Diplomatic Archives, Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Greece)

Monika Krawczyk (Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, Poland)

11:30 – 12:30 Buffet Lunch

12:30 - 14:30 Panel II: Private Property

Moderator: Gregory Schneider (World Jewish Restitution Organization, United States)

Panel Expert: Arie Bucheister (Senior Restitution Specialist, Claims Conference, United States)

Country presentations:

Peter Prochácka (Director of Department of Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Slovakia)

Razvan Rusu (Director General for Regional Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Romania)

Hannah Lessing (Secretary General, National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, Austria)

14:30 – 15:00 Coffee Break

15:00 - 17:00 Panel III: Heirless and Unclaimed Property

Moderator: Stuart Eizenstat (Special Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for Holocaust Issues, Department of State, United States)

Panel Expert: Andrew Baker (Personal Representative for Combating Anti-Semitism, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, United States)

Country presentations:

Harald König (Head of Division, Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues, Germany)

Viktor Gaber (Ambassador to the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)

Sladjana Prica (Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Serbia)

17:00 Adjourn

19:00 – 22:00 Buffet Style Evening Reception at Mlýnec, Novotného lávka 9, Prague 1

Introduction: Elizabeth Nakian (Deputy Director, Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, U.S. Department of State, United States)

Remarks: Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff (Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Austria)

Shuttles to the Evening Reception will depart from/to Lindner Hotel Prague Castle and Golden Tulip Savoy Hotel at 18:30.

November 28

Venue: Czernin Palace, Great Hall

8:30 - 9:00 Registration

9:00 – 10:30 Panel IV: The Role of International Structures and Institutions

Moderator: Karel Kovanda (Former Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for External Relations, European Commission, Czech Republic)

Panel Discussion:

Jaroslav Šonka (Director, European Shoah Legacy Institute, Czech Republic)

Sjef van Erp (Professor of Property Law and European Private Law, European Private Law Institute, the Netherlands)

Serge Cvajgenbaum (Secretary General, European Jewish Congress, France)

Andrew Baker (Personal Representative for Combating Anti-Semitism, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, United States)

10:30 -11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:30 Panel V: Media, Public Perception and Possible Solutions

Moderator: Eldad Beck (Central Europe Correspondent, Yediot Achronot, Israel)

Panel Discussion:

Anatolii Podolsky (Director, Center for Holocaust Studies, Ukraine)

Baroness Ruth Deech (Crossbench peer in the House of Lords and Chairman of the Bar Standards Board, House of Lords, United Kingdom)

Rabbi Michael Schudrich (Chief Rabbi of Poland, Poland)

Dan Mariaschin (Executive Vice President, B´nai B´rith International, United States)

Dinah Spritzer (Europe Correspondent, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, United States)

12:30-13:30 Buffet Lunch

13:30 – 15:00 Panel VI: Economic Issues and Possible Solutions

Moderator: Luděk Niedermayer (Director, Deloitte Consulting, Czech Republic)

Panel Discussion:

Nigel Ross (Chairman´s Advisory Board, World Jewish Relief, United Kingdom)

Stuart Eizenstat (Special Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for Holocaust Issues, Department of State, United States)

Jiří Schwarz (Professor, University of Economics, Czech Republic)

Hagen Graf Lambsdorff (Former Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany)

15:00 -15:15 Coffee Break

15:15 -16:00 Concluding Session

Moderator: Jakub Klepal (Executive Director, Forum 2000 Foundation, Czech Republic)

Concluding Remarks:

Marian Turski (Vice President, Jewish Historical Institute of Warsaw, Poland)

Stuart Eizenstat (Special Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for Holocaust Issues, Department of State, United States)

Jiří Schneider (First Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic)

16:30 – 17:00 Press Point (The Music Room)

November 29

10:00 – 12:30 Prague Jewish Town Guided Tour (Optional)

- registration for the tour is requested

The conference is accompanied by an exhibition of posters from the International Holocaust Memorial Day Poster Project, which features a selection of deep graphic reflections on the fate of children in the Holocaust. The project was created in cooperation with the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, Yad Vashem (Israel) and Mémorial de la Shoah (France).