WASHINGTON (AFP)---The United States hailed Lithuanian lawmakers Tuesday for backing compensation for Jewish communal property seized by Nazi Germany during World War II and then kept by the Soviets.   

"The United States welcomes the Lithuanian parliament's passage of Holocaust compensation legislation today, which is an important step toward historical justice and reconciliation," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.   

She noted the law was "only one of a number of important steps that the government and the people of Lithuania are taking to address a difficult era in Lithuania's past," pointing to efforts to promote Holocaust education in schools and the preservation of the ancient Jewish cemetery in Vilnius.   

Lawmakers voted 82-7, with 16 abstentions, in favor of the creation of a fund worth 128 million litas ($53 million), capping a debate that has endured since the Baltic state broke from the Soviet Union in 1990.   

Payments into the fund will begin in 2013 and are due to end in 2023.