Speech #910022857

Mr. President. the bill I introduce grants authority to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission to reopen the claim of Bogdan Bereznicki for compensation for family property confiscated in Poland during World War II. This legislation is necessary to right the wrong he suffered as a result of an incorrect ruling by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for which there is now no administrative remedy. Mr. BereznIcki first approached me in early May 1967 for help in appealing the decision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service that he had forfeited his citizenship by his service in the Polish Army. On the basis of the Immigration Service ruling. the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission was forced to deny his claim. A series of court and administrative decisions relating to the supposed forfeiture of his citizenship led to a ruling that Mr. Bereznicki had. in fact. continuously been a citizen from the date of loss as required by the Claims Commission. but by this time the jurisdiction of the Commission had expired and it was unable to consider this new evidence.