US Officials Repatriate Bible Taken By Nazis In Kristallnacht

Earlier this week, federal Homeland Security officials participated in a ceremony at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. at which a 16th century Bible that had been seized 71 years ago by the Nazis on Kristallnacht was returned to the Jewish community of Vienna. Earlier this year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials discovered that the Bible was being offered for sale by a New York auction house. ICE and the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York notified the Bible's owner-- who lived in Switzerland-- of its origins, and the owner agreed to its seizure by U.S. officials so it could be returned to Vienna's Jews to whom it had been donated in 1908. A press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York indicated that the return, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, was the third time this year that U.S. officials have repatriated artwork or property stolen during the Holocaust. Haaretz yesterday reported on the Bible's return.