Early Reports from Prague

A few news stories in English are coming through. Conference hosts held a news conference before the official start of the agenda. The French wire service AFP reports on opening remarks by Elie Wiesel, who expresses anger at the many decades of inaction on Holocaust compensation & restitution. Our eyes and ears at the Conference note that Wiesel pointedly mentioned directly the plight of survivors in need.

The Associated Press reports on the background, noting how the conference organizers worked to shut out those advocating individual asset claims cases. The story also includes a quote from HSF on the marginalization of survivors at the Conference.

A few other short reports stress the looted art issue almost exclusively. Typical is this from the BBC. Headlines like "Summit addresses Nazi-looted art" probably please the art activists.