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Jewish survivors returning to their homes in Poland found it practically impossible to reconstruct their prewar lives. Due to the border shifts, some Polish Jews found that their homes [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|were now in the Soviet Union]]; in other cases the returning survivors were [[German Jews]] whose homes [[Recovered Territories|were now under Polish jurisdiction]]. Jewish communities and Jewish life as it had existed was gone. Jews who somehow survived the Holocaust often discovered that their homes had been looted or destroyed.<ref name="USHMM-archive1"/>
TheSuccessive Polishrestitution governmentlaws enactedon legislation“abandoned onproperty” "abandonedof property"March 2, placing1945, severeMay limitations6, on1945 inheritanceand notMarch present8, 1946, which remained in pre-wareffect inheritanceuntil lawthe whichend of 1948, allowed inheritanceproperty byowners second-degreewho had been dispossessed during the war or, if deceased, their relatives (children, limitinggrandchildren, restitutionparents, grandparents, spouses and siblings), whether residing in Poland or outside the country, to reclaim privately owned property that was not subject to [[nationalization]] by way of a simplified, expedited and far less expensive procedure than the originalregular ownerscivil orprocedures. directThis heirssimplified process was enacted primarily for the benefit of the Jews.<ref>{{cite Thebook|author1=Marek unprecedentedJan rateChodakiewicz|author2=Wojciech Jerzy Muszyński|author3=Paweł Styrna|title=Golden Harvest Or Hearts of exterminationGold?: Studies on the Fate of PolishWartime Poles and Jews|year=2012|publisher=Leopolis inPress|isbn=978-0-9824888-1-2|pages=225-230}}</ref> conjunctionUntil withunclaimed abandoned properties became nationalized at the factend thatof only1955, Jewishsuch propertypersons, wasas officiallywell confiscatedas bymore thedistant Nazisrelatives, suggestscould "abandonedclaim property" wasof equivalentdeceased toowners "Jewishunder property"the regular civil procedures.<ref name="WeizmanCichopek-Gajraj2014-73"/>{{cite Polishbook|author=Anna officialsCichopek-Gajraj|title=Beyond didViolence: notJewish concealSurvivors thisin Poland and Slovakia, the1944–48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDezAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA73|date=19 formulatorsJune 2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-03666-6|pages=73-75}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Marek Jan Chodakiewicz|author2=Wojciech Jerzy Muszyński|author3=Paweł Styrna|title=Golden Harvest Or Hearts of Gold?: Studies on the lawFate arguedof thatWartime itPoles wasand necessaryJews|year=2012|publisher=Leopolis toPress|isbn=978-0-9824888-1-2|pages=228}}</ref> preventThe wealthunprecedented concentrationrate of extermination of Polish Jews in conjunction with the handsfact that only Jewish property was officially confiscated by the Nazis effectively meant that a lot of the "unproductiveabandoned andproperty" parasitewas factorsequivalent to "Jewish property".<ref name="Weizman">{{cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1462169X.2016.1267853|title=Unsettled possession: the question of ownership of Jewish sites in Poland after the Holocaust from a local perspective|first=Yechiel|last=Weizman|date=2 January 2017|publisher=|journal=Jewish Culture and History|volume=18|issue=1|pages=34–53|via=Taylor and Francis+NEJM|doi=10.1080/1462169X.2016.1267853}}</ref> The initial 1945 decrees were superseded by a 1946 law,<ref>[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=dDezAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&dq=%22%22property+which+is+abandoned+or+left+behind%22+poland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDgdjpoNfgAhVK2KQKHS0TAPQQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%22%22property%20which%20is%20abandoned%20or%20left%20behind%22%20poland&f=false Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48], Cambridge University Press, Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, page 72</ref> with a claims deadline of 31 December 1947, (later extended to 31 December 1948) after which property devolved to the Polish state.<ref name="Beker">[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=j6B_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA101&dq=%2231+december+1947%22+%2231+december+1948%22+%22dp+camps%22+murdered+%22place+the+number+at%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKgtzCyvzgAhXNwosKHetJAGEQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%2231%20december%201947%22%20%2231%20december%201948%22%20%22dp%20camps%22%20murdered%20%22place%20the%20number%20at%22&f=false The Plunder of Jewish Property during the Holocaust], Palgrave, page 101</ref> Even if Jews regained de-jure control of a property, when it was occupied by Poles additional lengthy proceedings werecould be necessary unless the property was requiredsold.<ref>[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=foN8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA325&dq=%22rarely+as+simple+as+going+to+court+and+having+a+judge+issue+an+eviction+notice%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiLiImI5tfgAhVis4sKHSnVCswQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=%22rarely%20as%20simple%20as%20going%20to%20court%20and%20having%20a%20judge%20issue%20an%20eviction%20notice%22&f=false Searching for Justice After the Holocaust: Fulfilling the Terezin Declaration and Immovable Property Restitution], Oxford University Press, page 325</ref> The majority of Jewish claimants could not afford the restitution process without financial help due to the filing costs, legal fees, and inheritance tax.<ref>[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=dDezAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82&dq=Poland+Jewish+property+800+z%C5%82oty&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjgJDNpdfgAhWIqaQKHQZeBcQQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=Poland%20Jewish%20property%20800%20z%C5%82oty&f=false false Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48], Cambridge University Press, Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, page 82</ref> ManyImpoverished survivingclaimants Polishcould Jewshowever obtain exemptions from court for legal fees; financial and legal assistance was provided by various Jewish organizations<ref name="Cichopek-Gajraj2014-82">{{cite book|author=Anna Cichopek-Gajraj|title=Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in thePoland USSRand Slovakia, 1944–48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDezAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82|date=19 June 2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-03666-6|pages=82}}</ref> Although municipal court rulings did not confer immediate ownership on someone who was not a dispossessed owner, successful claimants were repatriatedable onlyto aftersell the endproperties immediately following revendication.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Marek Jan Chodakiewicz|author2=Wojciech Jerzy Muszyński|author3=Paweł Styrna|title=Golden Harvest Or Hearts of Gold?: Studies on the claimsFate deadlineof inWartime 1948,Poles and PolishJews|year=2012|publisher=Leopolis officialsPress|isbn=978-0-9824888-1-2|pages=229-230}}</ref> blockedMany returnsurviving ofPolish Jews fromin [[Displacedthe personsUSSR campswere inrepatriated post-Worldonly Warafter IIthe Europe|DPclaims camps]].deadline terminated at the end of 1948;<ref name="Beker"/> Whilemost itof isthese hardJews tosettled estimateon howlands manyPoland Jewsacquired gotfrom propertyGermany back,and received material compensation on the numbersame wasbasis extremelyas smallethnic Poles resettled from Eastern Poland. <ref>[https://books''Robbery and Restitution''.google.co.il/books?id=oHfhPXlOyZIC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=%22little+doubt+that+the+number+was+extremely+small+for+several+reasons%22&source=bl&ots=uEWCaxe_6T&sig=ACfU3U3xRYkzRYe6douPvOGPANyrmbFxow&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjsm-6e6NfgAhX8RxUIHbUXDUEQ6AEwAHoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22little%20doubt%20that%20the%20number%20was%20extremely%20small%20for%20several%20reasons%22&f=false ShatteredBerghahn Spaces],and HarvardUnited UniversityStates PressHolocaust Memorial Museum, page2007, 52p. 244.</ref>
According to the American Jewish Year Book, “The return of Jewish property, if claimed by the owner or his descendant, and if not subject to state control, proceeded more or less smoothly.”<ref name="American Jewish Year Book">American Jewish Year Book, 5708 (1947–1948), vol. 49 (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1947), p. 390.</ref> Based on studies of court records carried out by several historians, Alina Skibińska concludes that "relatively many" Jews were able to reclaim former Jewish properties. In [[Szczebrzeszyn]], a “typical” small town in the Lublin Province, at least one third of 210 private properties belonging to Jews were successfully recovered by 1950, and almost all of these properties were very quickly sold to Poles.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jan Grabowski|author2=Dariusz Libionka|title=Klucze i kasa: O mieniu żydowskim w Polsce pod okupacją niemiecką i we wczesnych latach powojennych 1939–1950|publisher=Stowarzyszenie Centrum Badań nad Zagładą|location=Warsaw|year=2014|language=Polish|pages=562-563, 571}}</ref> The situation was similar in other towns in the Lublin Province: 281 applications were submitted in Zamość, 240 in Włodawa, some involving multiple properties,<ref name="Kopciowski">Adam Kopciowski. ''Zagłada Żydów w Zamościu'' (Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, 2005), 203</ref><ref>Adam Kopciowski, "Anti-Jewish Incidents in the Lublin Region in the Early Years after World War II," ''≈Holocaust: Studies and Materials'' vol. 1 (2008), p. 188.</ref> and 301 out of 894 former Jewish properties in Parczew were recovered by 1946.<ref>Mariusz Bechta, ''Pogrom czy odwet?: Akcja zbrojna Zrzeszenia “Wolność i Niezawiłość” w Parczewie 5 lutego 1946 r. '', Poznań: Zysk, 2014, p. 217.</ref>
Overall, it is hard to estimate how many Jews got property back. Based on research into court records, Lukasz Krzyzanowski concludes that "a relatively large number of properties" were returned.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jan Grabowski|author2=Dariusz Libionka|title=Klucze i kasa: O mieniu żydowskim w Polsce pod okupacją niemiecką i we wczesnych latach powojennych 1939–1950|publisher=Stowarzyszenie Centrum Badań nad Zagładą|location=Warsaw|year=2014|language=Polish|pages=605}}</ref> Based on no research, [[Michael Meng]] speculates that the number had to be "extremely small", since roughly 90% of Polish Jews perished in the Holocaust, many chose to settle in the new territories rather than the ones annexed by the Soviet Union, and yet the remainder faced "corruption and opposition" to their attempts to reclaim their property.<ref name="Meng2011">{{cite book|author=Michael Meng|title=Shattered Spaces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHfhPXlOyZIC&pg=PA52|date=29 November 2011|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-06281-8|page=52}}</ref> Decades later, reclaiming pre-war property would lead to a number of controversies, and the matter is still debated by media and scholars as of late 2010s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/3f1f6972-430c-11e8-93cf-67ac3a6482fd|title=Poland’s reclaimed properties create scars across Warsaw|last=|first=|date=24 April 2018|website=Financial Times|language=en-GB|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2019-05-10}}</ref>
===Jewish community in post-war Poland===
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