United States seizes Jewish funeral scrolls and manuscripts considered ‘lost forever’ during Holocaust

The Justice Department announced on Thursday the seizure of 17 funeral scrolls, manuscripts and community registers that were looted from Eastern European Jewish communities wiped out in the Holocaust more than three-quarters of a century ago.

The artifacts were found through a New York City auction house which offered them for sale, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

According to an affidavit in the case, “until recently discovered as being offered for auction, the manuscripts and scrolls were believed to have been lost forever.”

In addition to the 17 items seized, four other items have reportedly already been sold to buyers in Israel and upstate New York.

One item, prosecutors wrote, was a manuscript containing ancestry documents for a Jewish community in the city now known as Cluj-Napoca in Romania.

Contemporary archives have established that the manuscript existed in Romania in 1936, “shortly before the Holocaust began.”

“The fact that there is no trace of the commemorative book in the city of Cluj after the Holocaust, like all other movable property of Jewish communities during the Holocaust, indicates that it was stolen from its residents. original owners and was not located until after its reappearance. in the auction, ”the affidavit states.

The scrolls and manuscripts recovered, according to investigators, included “prayers for the dead, commemorative pages and / or the names of deceased members of Jewish communities, the rules of society’s operation, payments from members of the society, obligations, company regulations, the identity of the company religious leaders and, in some cases, the names of members of the company who were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. “

Investigators learned the items were on sale at the Brooklyn auction house in February, the statement said. The affidavit of seizure was filed Tuesday.

Jacquelyn Kasulis, the acting US lawyer for Eastern New York, said the seized material “belongs to the descendants of families who lived and prospered in Jewish communities before the Holocaust” and that she hoped the recovery “will help restore the history of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.”

Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent for Homeland Security Investigations, said: “We are fortunate to be part of the team that is able to return these artifacts to their legitimate Jewish communities.