Poland: Reopening of Restored Zamosc with Conference April 5-7, 2011

Zamosc, Poland. Synagogue after present restoration.
Photos: Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

Poland: Reopening of Restored Zamosc with Conference April 5-7, 2011
by Samuel D. Gruber

The restored Renaissance synagogue in Zamosc, one of the finest surviving synagogue buildings in Poland, will reopen on April 5th in conjunction with the conference “History and Culture of the Jews of Zamosc and the Zamosc Region.” The synagogue, unlike the Jews of Zamosc, survived the Holocaust and was used as a public library during much of Poland's Communist period. Unlike many other Jewish communal and religious buildings transformed for new use after World War II, the Zamosc synagogue retained many original features, including its built-in masonry and plastic Aron-ha kodesh (Ark) frame. The building was long recognized as a polish architectural monument and so a wealth of photographic and descriptive information from before 1939 survives informing us about the history, art and architecture of the building.

Zamosc, Poland. Synagogue interior during interwar years from Loukomski, Jewish Art in European Synagogues.

The Renaissance planned town of Zamosc is one of the most picturesque towns in Poland and one of the most important intact sites in the early history of European urban planning. Thus, it has been and continues to be a destination for specialized scholars and for Polish and international tourists. I first visited Zamosc in 1990 when surveying surviving synagogue buildings in Poland for the World Monuments Fund. Since compared to other synagogues in Poland at that time Zamosc was in extremely good condition, we did not list it as a preservation priority. I am happy that now, two decades later, WMF has continued to show interest in the building and contributed along with other international donors to the restoration. I include some of my photos from that first visit - when the sight of the Italian Renaissance inspired synagogue and the entire town was a revelation to me.

Zamosc, Poland. Synagogue in 1990. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber/World Monuments Fund

Photos and description of the restoration process and the finished buildings can be seen here.

The restitution of the synagogue to the Jewish community of Poland through the administration of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Monuments in Poland has allowed its repair and extensive restoration to return Jewish identity to the structure. Importantly, by rededicating the building as a synagogue but also establishing it as a regional Jewish information and tourist center, it returns easy access to Jewish history and identity to the town, and creates a larger venue for both commemoration of the past and introduction and consideration of contemproary Jewish religious and cultural identity.

This process begins this week with the conference that is co-organized by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland and the Polish-Jewish Literature Studies of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. The program of the conference which is in Polish and thus (appropriately) directed to a Polish audience can be seen here.

No doubt, in the future, there will be other meetings, symposia and conferences international in scope.

The synagogue has been restored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland within the framework of the project “Revitalization of the Renaissance synagogue in Zamosc for the needs of the Chassidic Route and the local community”. The project received a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The restoration of the synagogue is part of the Foundation's broad program of care for otherwise orphaned Jewish historic sites, including its designation as a hub for the "Chassidic Route". Ironically, as is made clear in the text of the informative and lavishly illustrated brochure: “Revitalization of the Renaissance synagogue in Zamosc for the needs of the Chassidic Route and the local community” , Zamosc was never a ccenter of Hasidism. It is really an opportunity to make the point that there was a widespread Jewish presence before and during the Hasidic period that had its own roots and development, and is, i think, much more relevant for defining a Jewish role in the modern world.

I quote from the brochure:

In Poland in the second half of the 18th c. Unlike the smaller communities surrounding Zamość, where Chassidism found many supporters, the capital of the Entail became a significant anti-Chassidic center. Not coincidentally, it was the hometown of Rabbi Ezriel Halevi Horowitz, a major critic of Chassidism and opponent of Rabbi Jacob Isaac Horowitz, known as “The Seer of Lublin” – the famous leader of the Lublin Chassidim. In the first half of the 19th c., there were only two small Chassidic groups in Zamość, consisting of followers of the Tzadik of Góra Kalwaria and the Tzadik of Bełz.

The community’s rejection of Chassidism was likely due to the attitude of its traditional elite and well-educated rabbis, one of whom was Rabbi Israel Ben Moshe Halevi Zamość. A philosopher and mathematician, he became well-known throughout Europe, and was notably the teacher of Moses Mendelssohn, the famous thinker and precursor of the Haskalah. The Haskalah (Hebrew for “Enlightenment”) was a pan-European movement which evolved in the Jewish circles of Western Europe. Its proponents called for the renouncement of isolationism and the involvement of Jews in the social and political life of the countries they inhabited. At the end of the 18th century, Zamość became one of the most important centers of the Haskalah in the region.

Activities at the restored synagogue will also involve local partner the Artistic Exhibitions Agency, the Fine Arts High School, the Karol Namyslowski Symphonic Orchestra, the Zamość University of Management and Administration and the Catholic University of Lublin as well as the Jewish Community of Trondheim, Norway.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

The synagogue will also be available for religious services. Opening hours: beginning with April 8th, 2011 the "Synagogue" Center will be open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.

The Holocaust in Zamosc

The fate of Zamosc's Jews in the Holocaust, which will be the main subject of one day of the conferecne on April 7, is briefly described by Stefan Krakowski in the Encyclopedia Judaica:

After a few days of heavy bombardment, which especially damaged the Jewish quarter, the German army entered Zamosc on Sept. 14, 1939. Immediately after capturing the city, the Germans organized a series of pogroms, motivated in part by the desire to loot Jewish property. On Sept. 26, 1939, the Germans left Zamosc and the Soviet army entered, but handed the city back to the Germans two weeks later, in accordance with the new Soviet-German demarcation line. About 5,000 Jews left the city at the time that the Soviet army withdrew. The remaining Jewish population suffered Nazi brutality and persecutions, like the rest of the Jews throughout Lublin province.

In October 1939 the Germans selected a *Judenrat and forced it to pay a "contribution" of 100,000 zlotys ($20,000) and the daily delivery of 250 Jews for hard labor. In December 1939 several hundred Jews expelled from *Lodz, Kalo, and *Wloclawek in western Poland were settled in Zamosc. Early in the spring of 1941 an open ghetto was established around Hrubieszowska Street, and the first deportation from Zamosc took place on April 11, 1942 (on the eve of Passover). The entire Jewish population was ordered to gather in the city's market, whereupon gunfire was directed at the crowd killing hundreds on the spot. About 3,000 Jews were forced to board waiting trains which took them to *Belzec death camp. From May 1 to 3, 1942, about 2,100 Jews from *Dortmund, Germany, and from Czechoslovakia were taken to Zamosc. Almost all of them were deported to Belzec on May 27 and murdered. The third mass deportation started on Oct. 16, 1942. All Jews were again ordered to gather in the city's market, and afterward were driven to *Izbica, some 15½ mi. (25 km.) from Zamosc. Many were shot on the way, and the rest, after a short stay in Izbica, were deported to Belzec and murdered. In this deportation the Jews offered passive resistance and hundreds went into hiding in prepared shelters. The Germans brought in Polish firemen to open the shelters by destroying the walls and removing other obstacles. Several hundred Jews were discovered in hiding and imprisoned for eight days in the city's cinema hall without food or water; then all those who were still alive were brought to the Jewish cemetery and executed.

A few hundred Jews fled to the forests. Most of them crossed the Bug River, made contact with Soviet guerrillas in the Polesie forest, and joined various local partisan groups. After the war some 300 Jews settled in Zamosc (270 from the Soviet Union, and 30 survivors of the Holocaust in Zamosc), but after a short stay they all left Poland.

Exhibitions: Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally"

Exhibitions: Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally"

Tom Freudenheim has written about Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally" for the Wall Street Journal. The painting which was at the center of one the most publicized art restitution cases goes on view for three weeks at New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage this week.

What Is Lost When Works are Trophies

By Tom L. Freudenheim
Wall Street Journal (July 27, 2010)

It's interesting to contemplate how works of art, which museums generally want us to appreciate for their aesthetic values, can turn into trophies: emblems of issues or events that have nothing to do with their status as art.

Take Egon Schiele's "Portrait of Wally" (1912), which goes on view at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan for three weeks starting Thursday, following an out-of-court settlement of the dispute over its ownership. In 1998 it had been seized by then-Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau from a Schiele exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, to which it had been lent by Vienna's Leopold Museum. Mr. Morgenthau was acting on behalf of the estate of Lea Bondi Jaray. The heirs of the original owner held that the painting had been stolen from her by the Nazis and therefore did not belong to the Leopold Museum. "Portrait of Wally" may not be Schiele's most important but the legal case has certainly turned it into his most famous one.

Read the entire article here.

Restitution: US Senator Criticizes Poland on Property Restitution

US Congress Senator Calls for More Action on Property Restitution

Polskie Radio has reported that head of the Helsinki Commission for the United States Congress, Senator Ben Cardin, has criticized Poland for delaying the process of dealing with the restitution of Jewish property confiscated during and after WW II.

Read the full article here.

According to the article:

During the session of the Helsinki Commission in Washington, Senator Ben Cardin indicated Poland and Lithuania as the two countries which have done
least to solve the problem. “Successive Polish governments promised that the nissue of compensation will be dealt with. None has done anything about it,” he said.

In March 2001, the Polish parliament approved a law for the restitution of private property, though the right to file a claim was limited to nthose with Polish citizenship as of December 31, 1999. The law was subsequently vetoed by the President of Poland. The Terezin Declaration, a nonbinding set of guiding principles aimed at faster, more open and transparent restitution of art, private and communal property taken by force or under duress during the Holocaust, was approved at the Prague Holocaust Era Assets Conference in June last year. Poland was a signature to the non-binding agreement.

Senator Cardin added he was aware that due to the relocation of borders and massive resettlements of people following the war, property restitution in Poland is a complicated issue. “Solving of the problem is difficult but not impossible” he added.

Restitution: Looted Painting by Belgian Artist Antoine Carte Returned

Restitution: Nazi-Looted Painting of Jewish Child by Belgian Artist Antoine Carte Returned

Art Knoweldge News reports that "a portrait of a child with her pet rabbit by Belgian artist, Antoine (Anto) Carte that was looted by the Nazis during the Belgian Occupation has been returned to its owner after the Art Loss Register (ALR) located it in the hands of an art dealer from Long Island, USA. 'Jeune Fille a la Robe Bleue' (1932) was the centrepiece of a hand-over ceremony at the Jewish Museum of Belgium on 1 December 2009. The Jewish child in the portrait fled Brussels with her family during the Nazi Occupation and survived the war hiding in the Belgian countryside. The family's abandoned apartment in Ohain was looted in 1944 and five oil paintings, including the Anto Carte portrait, disappeared.

For a photo and the full story click here.

Poland: Abandoned Jewish Cemetery of Przemysl Returned to Jewish Ownership

Poland: Abandoned Jewish Cemetery of Przemysl Returned to Jewish Ownership

(ISJM) Last month (Feb 23) Michael Freund reported in the Jerusalem Post that the long abandoned and neglected "Old" Jewish cemetery of Przemsyl,has been restituted to the ownership of the foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ). The site on is still marked by an impressive stone entrance gate. Only a few gravestones from the cemetery have survived (photos) gravestones on the site which dates to the 16th century, it is believed that the burials remain intact, and the Foundation (FODZ) plans to clean the site and protect it. The carved gravestones were removed by the German occupiers of the town during the Second World War. To date, none have been located, but ti is possible that many were reused nearby for pavements and building material and some may be still be found. A second of "New" cemetery still survives in the town. This has hundreds of surviving stones, including post-1945 burials.

In June 2009, Freund participated in the dedication of a memorial plaque on the former Przemysl New Synagogue (1910), known as the Scheinbach synagogue and now used as a public library. At that time he challenged city officials to return the former cemetery.

Przemsyl, which was once a central Polish town, but is now located near the border of Ukraine, was once at town with a thriving pre-Holocaust Jewish population (estimated at 30% of the total). As the cemetery of a major town it also served, according the FODZ researchers nearby communities of Jaroslav, Pruchnik, Kanczuga and Dynow.

the following information comes from the websites of the Cemetery project of the International Jewish Genealogical Society.

OLD CEMETERY: The Jewish homes were founded outside the walls of the city on the road to Nehrybki between the current ul Wandy and ul Rakoczy. This old cemetery was documented first in 1568 in the privilege issued by King Sigismund Augustus and again in 1571 regarding damage. Since in 1638 King Władysław IV gave the Jews the privilege allowing them to use "the synagogue cemetery: and indicating that the cemetery also served the surrounding cities including Jarosławia, Pruchnik, Kańczugi, and Dynów. Five years later the cemetery area was enlarged. Land also was purchased in 1765. An 18th century fence shows in archival records. During WWII, this cemetery was destroyed, its stone gravestones used for making roads and streets including the barracks on ul Mickiewicz. Without care cemetery slipped into oblivion. Before WWII, archival photographs in the Muzeum Narodowego Ziemi Przemyskiej show that the cemetery had a large group of graves from the 16th century, the oldest being that of a woman named Gitel bat Gershon, who died on September 23, 1574 (8 tiszri 5335). In the mid-19th century, the cemetery occupied two hectares and was almost completely filled. The Jewish Community in Przemysl needed a new cemetery.

Austria: Government Agrees to Fund Jewish Cemetery Conservation

Austria: Government Agrees to Fund Jewish Cemetery Conservation
by Samuel D. Gruber

I was in the process of compiling a list of top ten stories for 2009 about Jewish heritage sties when news from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) and the Associated Press that the government has pledged 20 million euro over the next 20 years – at a rate of 1 million euro a year – to help restore the neglected Jewish cemeteries throughout the country.

There are about 70 known Jewish cemeteries in modern-day Austria, of which at least twenty the Jewish Community rates in poor condition. According to a report in the Associated Press, the Jewish Community will match the government grants through funds raised from private and local governmental sources. The decision to fund cemetery conservation and protection comes after nearly a decade of protracted and sometimes acrimonious negotiation about Austrian governmental responsibility for various types of compensation and support to Jewish survivors, the Jewish Community and Jewish heritage sites following the murder and destruction of the Holocaust. In 2001 Austria committed (as part of the so-called Washington agreement) to care for Jewish cemeteries as part of a compensation deal for Nazi crimes, but levels of care were not specified.

Unlike Germany, which during the post-World War II reconstruction period (and ever since) has taken a strong official stance in the need for and appropriateness of government support for Jewish cultural and religious life, Austrian governments (and public opinion) steadfastly denied responsibility, portraying Austria as the first “victim” of Nazi aggression, rather than a willing collaborator in Germany’s war and the Holocaust. Thousands of Austrian Jews fled the country before and immediately after the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938. In all, it is thought that about 65,000 Austrian Jews met their deaths as a result of the Nazi policies.

Raimund Fastenbauer, secretary-general of the Jewish Community Vienna, told The Associated Press he hoped restoration work would begin next year.

While in other countries in Europe local and national monument authorities have sometimes assisted in the care for particularly historic Jewish cemeteries, for the most part governments have spent little - and sometimes nothing - on the care of such sites. Even worse, in many countries of Eastern Europe disputes continue on the definition of what a cemetery is. For Jews, the presence of human remains denotes a cemetery - which remains a sacred space requiring demarcation and care.

For many governments, and culture organizations, cemeteries are only recognized when gravestones are visible. In the case of at least several thousand Jewish cemeteries throughout Europe gravestones have been removed during times of persecution, expulsion, and genocide. Even in case where some gravestones remain, protected site status is often granted only to that small area of a cemetery rather than to the entire acreage where burials exist. Sometimes well-intentioned efforts to fence areas where stones remain results in the de facto sacrifice of more expansive cemetery areas.

The Austrian Jewish Community web site has an extensive page listing all the cemeteries and giving their history, size, location, condition and notes on any current or recent restoration efforts.

For a detailed listing of Jewish heritage sites in Austria, including some cemeteries see:
http://www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu/country/austria/austria1.htm

For lists of Jewish cemeteries, including a database of individual burials throughout the country, museums and currently-functioning synagogues, see the website of the Austrian Jewish community:
www.ikg-wien.at/static/etis/html/start.htm

Belarus: Israeli Ambassador Urges Government to Assist in Restoration of Synagogues

Grodno (Hrodna), Belarus. Great Synagogue (1902-05). Photos: Wikipedia Commons

Belarus: Israeli Ambassador Urges Government to Assist in Restoration of Synagogues

(ISJM) Belarus News reported on November 11, 2009 that the Israeli ambassador to Belarus has urged the government to restore synagogues amid a “disastrous” shortage of prayer houses for Jewish communities in the country.

According to the article:

The Belarusian government should pay attention to deteriorating synagogues, which were built with contributions by the faithful, Ambassador Edward (Eddie) Shapira said at an international conference in Minsk.

“I do understand that there is no restitution law in the country, but there is a wave of religious revival and the state does not only return churches that once belonged to Orthodox Christian communities but also helps renovate them,” the ambassador said.

Mr. Shapira expressed concern about the condition of the “unique” three-story synagogue in Hrodna [Grodno]. Many tourists, including Jews, visit the city, but it is impossible to invite them to the synagogue hit by “devastation,” he said.

The ambassador also voiced alarm over what he called the unwillingness of law-enforcers to probe attempts to incite national hate “even when they are visible by the naked eye.”

He said that a swastika and an anti-Semitic text were sprayed on the building of the Jewish community in Slutsk, Minsk region, earlier this year, condemning the act as a vivid example of racism.

The ambassador called on the authorities to draw up regulations that would prevent immoderate construction work at old Jewish cemeteries and the sites of the WWII mass execution of Jews, and ensure that human remains discovered at such sites be reburied with proper rituals.

You can view this article online at VosIzNeias.com/41883

Copyright © 1999 - 2008 VosIzNeias.com - All rights reserved.

Of course, the ambassador's plea raises a host of sticky political and moral questions about government involvement in religion. On the one hand, Jewish and other groups are usually eager to see government support for synagogues and other Jewish religious and communal institutions - and such is a normal throughout much of Europe where the tradition of separation of church and state are not ingrained as part of the social and political cultures. On the other hand, these same groups fret about undo influence by government upon their activities, and on other forms of freedom of expression. How should be strike a balance?

On way, of course, is to look at the buildings that need to be restored. In Europe (but less so in America) governments are regularly involved in the protection, preservation and promotion of the historic buildings and other resources. When synagogues and other Jewish historic and architecturally significant buildings fall into this category, help should be provided to promote culture and history. I would never - however - support the government construction of synagogues (or churches or mosques for that matter). But in fact, in Belarus, as the ambassador points out the government does assist in the promotion of the Orthodox (Christian) church. But I would plea for the protection of historic synagogues based on their past - not on their future use. That issue is for Jews to decide (and to fund).

The Grodno synagogue is one of the most impressive in Belarus, and is situated in a major urban area. Just as the City of Warsaw has funded recent restoration of the Nosyk Synagogue, and the Hungarian government funded most of the expensive restoration of the Dohany Synagogue in Budapest, so too, can public funds assist in Grodno - which was returned to the Jewish Community of that city in 1991. The synagogue, however, was the site of intense communal rivalries in the years after its restitution. Disagreements over who would control the site and who would define the Jewish religious identity of Grodno were also factors that deterred international donors from embracing the project - as exactly the time when international attention was turning to places like Warsaw, Prague and Budapest. The Grodno Synagogue is now the Center of the city's Chabad movement, which is organizing its restoration. Today, Belarus is home to three main Jewish religious groups - the tradition Orthodox, the Chabad-Lubavich Orthodox, and a congregation of Progressive Jews. This confuses all requests for government support. Chabad has been more active (and successful) - especially in nearby Russia - in looking to government for recognition and active support. In neighboring Ukraine, which also lacks a restitution law, Chabad has also been the most organized and effective nationwide Jewish network - but there Chabad has mostly relied on private donors and the activism of local rabbis.

The lack of a proper restitution law in Belarus makes any general demand on the government for care of synagogues problematic. It would be better to fix the system and create a proper mechanism for the return and support of properties, than to bungle by on an ad hoc and reactive basis, and to beg for government largess. The problem in Belarus (and in other countries, too) is that governments are willing to "give back" older ruined and non-productive properties to Jewish communities, but they are reluctant - and even obdurate - to return useful income-producing properties. Thus, Jewish communities are after saddled with expensive historic properties, but no financial resource - and little or no government assistance - to maintain and restore them. This is like asking someone to make soup and giving them the ingredients, but no pot or fire.

What needs to be done is the proper and legal return of historic properties with the recognition that these properties are derelict due to more than a half century of neglect and or misuse by state or other non-Jewish users (appropriators). It is not enough to return a property, but the means also have to be attached to the property to make it whole again.

If an apple is stolen from a grocer, it does the grocer no good if only the apple core is returned.

I know that this is an expensive proposition - and its get more expensive all the time. But this is the system that we must lobby for. It is the only practical - and moral - solution. Governments add injury to insult when they return a ruined (historically designated) property to a Jewish community, and then within a short time threaten to penalize the community for not having maintained or restored the building - this after the government (or some predecessor government) neglecting the structure for decades. It is also wrong for governments to assume that just because a community will not or cannot maintain a property now, that it is forfeiting all claim on the building for all time. If such a scenario were carried out to its logical conclusion, than many governments themselves would find that they must forfeit many of their own buildings - since they are not maintained.

In places like Belarus is essential that a complete list of sites be compiled (this has already been done to a large degree), and that the conditions of the building, and its restoration needs be itemized, and that these be compared to potential uses for the building. This list then needs to be prioritized, and a small selection of sites be chosen for annual repair and restoration - sometimes by the Jewish community, sometimes by the government, sometimes by private entities - but mostly in the form of creative financing, use and lease or ownership arrangements involving all these parties. This can be done in many ways as examples from the Czech Republic and Poland demonstrate.

I will write more about the unusual architecture of the Grodno Synagogue in a future post.

Austria: Bomberg Bible Stolen in 1938 Returned to Vienna Jewish Community

Copy of a page from the First Rabbinic Bible (1517) published by David Bomberg
from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Austria: Bomberg Bible Stolen in 1938 Returned to Vienna Jewish Community

by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The following story comes – of all places – from the US Immigration and Customs Service (ICS). It’s about the return of a copy of the first Rabbinic Bible printed by David Bomberg in Venice to the Jewish Community of Vienna, from which it was apparently looted during in 1938. Appropriately, the return of the recovered book – which was offered at auction in June and its origins then recognized – took place on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night and day when most of Vienna’s synagogues were burned and destroyed.

Of course, Bomberg’s works have known fire and destruction before. He was the first to print a complete Talmud, which besides one of the great masterpieces of printing, also established the pagination and many other editorial devices that have been used in Talmud publication ever since. As far I can tell, only two complete sets of Bomberg’s Talmud survive (both of which were rediscovered in recent years). This is in part because they were so used by every Jewish community that could afford to obtain one, but also, no doubt, because many have been destroyed over the years. In 1553, Pope Julius III was convinced that the Talmud attacks Christianity, and ordered thousands of volumes burned in Rome, Bologna, Ferrara, Venice and Mantua. No doubt many of these burned books were printed by Bomberg. One complete set was in the collection of Union Theological Seminary in New York and was sold for $2 million in 2002. Another copy – order by King Henry VIII – was in the collection of the Westminster Abbey – and was obtained by collector Jack Lunzer when he was able to purchase the Abbey’s original charter and worked out a deal (see: Treasure Trove: How is it that one of the greatest collections of Hebraica ever assembled can’t find a home?)

Bomberg's Rabbinic Bibles are a little more common, in part because there were various editions, and they were not publicly burned. The first version - of which the Vienna copy is an example - was edited by Felix Pratenis, a Jew who had converted to Christianity, and the publication was supported by the Pope (Jewish converts frequently found work in the book trades - and later as text revisers for the Inquisition - because of their knowledge of Hebrew and Jewish liturgy) . A second version in 1525 was edited by an observant Jew Jacob ben Hayim and was more popular with Jewish scholars. A pristine copy of the Second Biblia Rabbinica - that was preferred by Jewish scholars - was recently obtained by the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Here is the article from the ICE about the book return to Vienna. The author of the press release obviously was never taught the difference between a manuscript (hand written) and a printed book - thus missing a critical point of the importance of printed bibles - that more copies could be made and more people has access to them).

ICE returns 16th century Hebrew Bible looted by Nazis
The 2-volume manuscript was stolen from Vienna, Austria, in 1938

NEW YORK - A 16th century two-volume Bomberg/Pratensis Rabbinic Bible is back in the hands of its rightful owners 71 years after it was stolen by the Nazis. Today, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York returned the Bible to Vienna's Jewish community, known as Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien (IKG). This repatriation marks the third time this year that ICE and the U.S. Attorney's Office have repatriated artwork or property stolen during the Holocaust.

During the annexation of Austria in 1938, Nazi soldiers confiscated the rare Bible from the IKG library. On Nov. 9, 1938, known to history as "Kristallnacht," or "Crystal Night," the Gestapo seized and sealed the IKG library. Custody of the IKG library was transferred to the "Reichssicherheitshauptamt" (RSHA) in Berlin between 1939 and 1941. When Berlin was evacuated in 1943, main sections of the IKG library were transferred to other Nazi-occupied territories in Lower Silesia, a province of Poland, and North Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic.

The Rabbinic Bible, published between 1516 and1517, is a manuscript that includes an Aramaic summary and a series of commentaries by key medieval rabbinic figures including 11th century French scholar Rashi, late 12th/early 13th century Provencal scholar David Kimche, 13th century Spanish scholar Nachmanides and 14th century French scholar Gersonides.

The New York City auction house Kestenbaum & Company had offered for sale in its June 25, 2009, auction catalogue, an item described as a "Bible: Venice. Bomberg, 1516-1517." An ICE investigation determined that the ancient Bible described in the catalog was actually part of the library and property of IKG. The Bible was illegally imported into the United States on March 19, 2009. Once agents provided Kestenbaum proof of the Bible's provenance and prior ownership, the auction house immediately agreed to withdraw the Bible from auction and return it to its owners.

"The Bible returned today is a priceless inheritance of the people of Vienna," said James T. Hayes, Jr., special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in New York. "ICE and the U.S. Attorney's office are grateful for the cooperation of Kestenbaum and Company auction house in the recovery of the Bible, and hope that Kestenbaum's leadership will encourage their peers in the industry to take a good look at their own works."

"It is important to understand that this Bible is being returned without litigation," said Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy of the U.S. State Department Office of Holocaust Issues. "To facilitate the return to rightful owners of cultural items displaced during World War II, the United States is considering the establishment of a commission to review and make recommendations on cases for which the parties are unable to reach a mutually satisfactory settlement. This would bring a measure of justice to Holocaust survivors, heirs and communities."

"Seventy-one years ago today, on 'Kristallnacht,' the Nazis carried out a violent and coordinated attack on Jewish people, ransacking the places they lived, worked and gathered," said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. "The passage of time does not diminish our remembrance, or the duty to return all surviving works of art and precious symbols stolen by the Nazis. Returning this Bible to the IKG today is a step toward that worthy goal."

ICE and the U. S. Attorney's Office have been at the forefront of investigating and recovering looted Holocaust-related artwork on behalf of rightful owners. Within the last six months, ICE and the U.S. Attorney's Office have recovered two paintings stolen by the Nazis that belonged to the late Jewish art dealer Max Stern. The 17th-century Dutch painting "Portrait of a Musician Playing a Bagpipe" and "St. Jerome." a painting by famed Italian artist Ludovico Carracci (1555 - 1619), were returned to the collector's estate.

ICE is a participant of the Department of State's Holocaust Art Recovery Working Group. If anyone has any information about the Holocaust-related theft or trafficking of artifacts or artwork please contact the ICE Deputy Special Agent in Charge Office at John F. Kennedy Airport at (718) 553-1824 or call (866) DHS-2ICE.

ICE, the largest investigative agency of the Department of Homeland Security, handles investigations into stolen or illegally exported cultural artifacts that show up on the world market.

For more about ICE's cultural heritage investigations, please go to: http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/index.htm

Restitution: Settlement on Emil Nolde Work in Swedish Museum

Restitution: Settlement on Emil Nolde Work in Swedish Museum

The Web magazines ArtKnowledgeNews, ArtDaily.org and other media report that the dispute over ownership of a flower painting by German expressionist Emil Nolde, was been settled in Sweden where the Moderna Museet of Stokholm has agreed to return to Blumengarten (Utenwarf) (Flower Garden (Utenwarf)) to the heirs of Otto Nathan Deutsch, a German Jew who escaped to the Netherlands in the late 1930s.

The painting was stolen by the Nazis 70 years ago from the Deutsch collection, and in 1967 surfaced and was sold to Moderna Museet. Negotiations between the art museum and the heirs - two of whom themselves are Holocaust survivors - began in 2002. The work has now been sold on behalf of the heirs to an unidentified private collector who has agreed to loan it to the Moderna Museet for five years, and then will loan a series of other, undisclosed painting for another five years.

No media reports that I have read have commented on the irony of this situation - that Nolde in his lifetime was known for his expressions of anti-Semitism, or at least of his dislike of leading Jewish luminaries in Berlin and European art world. He had special dislike for Max Lieberman, leader of the Berlin Secession, and Paul Cassirer leading modern art dealer and arbiter of modern taste.

The ownership dispute was settled under the principles of the 1998 Washington Conference Principles, guidelines adopted by 44 countries that outline, among other things, procedures for dealing with art restitution claims. In June, the Jewish Claims Conference, listed Sweden with countries “that do not appear to have made significant progress.” The Claims Conference estimates that the Nazis stole around 650,000 works of art of all types.

The Deutsch heirs continue to search for other artworks which were lost during the Nazi period. A list can be found at the German Government website www.lostart.de.

Restitution: JTA's Dinah Spritzer Provides Followup to Prague Conference

Restitution: JTA's Dinah Spritzer Provides Followup to Prague Conference

I am posting the following text and article links provided by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. for more about the conference and to reference the final statements see my previous post.

On the heels of what insiders say will be the last major Holocaust restitution conference, JTA Europe correspondent Dinah Spritzer reports from Prague about a new pledge by 46 countries to ease the restitution process for Jewish property taken during the Nazi era.

In this JTA Special Report, Spritzer examines whether the new restitution measures will yield results in time for Holocaust survivors, analyzes which are the least cooperative countries when it comes to compensating Jews for looted property and art, and talks with Stuart Eizenstat about Israel's shortcomings when it comes to fighting for restitution.

JTA Special Report: Pressing for Restitution

Last Chance for Holocaust restitution?

Stalling tactics, lack of political will and resentment of Jews have frustrated efforts by Jewish owners, heirs and advocates to recover property stolen by the Nazis. A new measure may ease the restitution process, but will it come in time for Holocaust survivors? Read more »

Q&A with Eizenstat on Holocaust-era restitution

Stuart Eizenstat, who is credited with getting Jewish property restitution started in the former Eastern bloc, criticizes the European Union for failing to follow through on restitution and takes Israel to task for not doing enough over the years for Holocaust survivors and their heirs.

Last Chance for Holocaust restitution?

The list of 10 European Union countries where claimants of looted art, communal property or private property face serious obstacles.

Conference: Update on Holocaust-Era Assets Conference in Prague

Conference: Update on Holocaust-Era Assets Conference in Prague
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The Holocaust-Era Assets Conference in Prague that began last Friday night is wrapped up today. In addition to enumerating continuing problems and reiterating positions, the Conference has produced a document (the Terezin Declaration) aimed at improving and perhaps speeding the restitution process for property seized during and after the Holocaust and never returned to direct or collective heirs. Forty-six participating countries signed the statement, if remains to be seen how many will follow through with its implementation. Like most such conference statements it is long on sentiments and short on details. The conference is certainty is good stimulus to the more than decade-long process of restitution negotiation, but it is a milepost only, not the final destination.

I subsequent blogpost I will discuss some of the expert conclusions from the conference. These provide more detail and more specific recommendations on how to proceed. Different approaches are needed in different countries, and regarding different types of contested property.

The main pronouncements of the Terezin Declaration that might impact the future restitution, protection, care and preservation of historic sites and monuments, architecture and art are the following:

1. Recognizing that Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and other victims of the Nazi regime and its collaborators suffered unprecedented physical and emotional trauma during their ordeal, the Participating States take note of the special social and medical needs of all survivors and strongly support both public and private efforts in their respective states to enable them to live in dignity with the necessary basic care that it implies.

2. Noting the importance of restituting communal and individual immovable property that belonged to the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah) and other victims of Nazi persecution, the Participating States urge that every effort be made to rectify the consequences of wrongful property seizures, such as confiscations, forced sales and sales under duress of property, which were part of the persecution of these innocent people and groups, the vast majority of whom died heirless.

3. Recognizing the progress that has been made in research, identification, and restitution of cultural property by governmental and non-governmental institutions in some states since the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets and the endorsement of the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the Participating States affirm an urgent need to strengthen and sustain these efforts in order to ensure just and fair solutions regarding cultural property, including Judaica that was looted or displaced during or as a result of the Holocaust (Shoah).

4. Taking into account the essential role of national governments, the Holocaust (Shoah) survivors’ organizations, and other specialized NGOs, the Participating States call for a coherent and more effective approach by States and the international community to ensure the fullest possible, relevant archival access with due respect to national legislation. We also encourage States and the international community to establish and support research and education programs about the Holocaust (Shoah) and other Nazi crimes, ceremonies of remembrance and commemoration, and the preservation of memorials in former concentration camps, cemeteries and mass graves, as well as of other sites of memory.

Other sections deal with Holocaust memory, education and care for Holocaust survivors. An additional Joint Statement was released in which the

"European Commission and the Czech EU-Presidency declare their readiness to make every effort and create a more effective European approach by supporting goals dealing primarily with education and social welfare such as:

- Holocaust education and research,
- Social care of survivors,
- Preservation of memorials in former concentration camps and cemeteries as well as of other sites of memory,
- Provenance research of Looted Art"

Full texts of both statements can be found here:

TEREZIN DECLARATION, June 30, 2009

Joint Declaration, June 29, 2009

Expert Conclusions (from specialized sessions)


You can read the JTA report by Dinah Spritzer here.

I was quoted in a preliminary article "Jews Hope to Reclaim Their Architectural Legacy in Eastern Europe," about the conference published in the Christian Science Monitor. My point about the reluctance of countries to restitution valuable urban properties, and their eagerness to dump dilapidated and neglected properties on Jewish communities is true, though the details of this issue are lost in my "soundbite" quote. In the past ten years there have been some successes, but these are few in relation to the actual number of restitution claims submitted by Jewish communities (not to mention by individuals).

Here are links to other pre-conference news reports:

Shoah assets forum opens in Prague
Holocaust survivors, Jewish groups and experts gathered in Prague Friday to assess efforts to return property and possessions stolen by the Nazis to their rightful owners or heirs...
Friday, June 26,2009

Art Restitution Conference in Prague
Representatives of the governments of 49 countries as well as museums, Jewish groups and other organizations will meet in Prague this week for a five-day conference on the restitution of artwork stolen by Nazis...
Wednesday, June 24,2009

Lithuania offers too little, too late for seized Jewish property, US Jewish leader says
Lithuania’s compensation plan for Jewish property seized by Nazi Germany in World War II and kept by the Soviet regime is too little, too late, a senior American Jewish leader said Thursday...
Friday, June 26,2009

Conference: Holocaust-Era Asset Conference to Open in Prague Friday

Conference: Holocaust-Era Assets Conference to Open in Prague Friday

(ISJM) As reported last month, the Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets will convene this weekend in Prague. Delegations from several dozen countries and many NGOs will participate. The schedule for the conference, including the working group sessions have been posted.

Working Groups (WG) are composed of representatives of institutions with fundamental activities, field experience and research results related to the principal topics of the WG agenda.

The role of each WG is to:

- prepare the agenda of the expert portion of the Prague conference,
- discuss the important focal points of their agenda,
- suggest the framework for presentations at the Prague conference, and
- draft recommendation for the final declaration.

Working Groups schedules are listed here:

Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research
Immovable Property (Private and Communal)
Looted Art
Judaica and Jewish Cultural Property
Special Session - Caring for Victims of Nazism and Their Legacy

German Film on Stolen Jewish Property Acclaimed

German Film on Stolen Jewish Property Acclaimed

(ISJM) Human Error (Menschliches Versagen), by Michael Verhoevena, a documentary film about the Aryanization of Jewish property in Germany, won the top prize in German documentaries on Jewish themes at the 15th annual Berlin Jewish Film Festival.

Isn't it weird that there should be such a specified category? It suggests the huge number of documentaries on Jewish themes that must be produced each year (and I've consulted on my share!).

This film sounds important, and together with Rape of Europa should probably be required viewing for all those attending the upcoming Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets in Prague.

Read the story at JTA

Conference: Governments and Jewish Groups Get Ready for June Meeting in Prague on Holocaust-Era Assets

Governments and Jewish Groups Get Ready for June Conference in Prague on Holocaust-Era Assets

(ISJM) Ten years after the international conference on Holocaust-era assets held in Washington, DC, a new conference will convene in Prague in late June to assess progress on restitution issues. The conference is sponsored by the Government of the Czech Republic, in cooperation with the Documentation Centre of Property Transfers of Cultural Assets of WW II Victims, the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Terezín Memorial, the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hussite Theological Faculty of the Charles University in Prague and the Forum 2000 Foundation.

The Prague conference scheduled for Prague on June 26-30, 2009 is intended to evaluate progress in identifying and recovering assets of Holocaust victims since the Washington Conference. Immovable property (synagogues, cemeteries, etc) is one of many categories around which the Prague conference in organized.

At present it is hard to get an accurate schedule of the conference or a list of participants. Potentially, there will be scores of delegations from countries and from NGOs. Many countries are still holding back on announcing who will be in their delegations, waiting to see what high-level dignitaries will be attending from the United States and other countries. Most likely, there will be formal and public sessions in which platitudes will be reiterated, and sound-bites recorded. There will be some lecturing by "good" countries, and some defensive posturing by "bad" countries. It will be behind the scenes that working groups of diplomats, Holocaust experts, historians, lawyers, and Holocasut victim advocates will be pressing their cases, and trying to negotiate policy.

The objectives of the conference are:

• To assess the progress made since the 1998 Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets in the areas of the recovery of looted art and objects of cultural, historical and religious value (according to the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art and the Vilnius Forum Declaration 2000), and in the areas of property restitution and financial compensation schemes.

• To review current practices regarding provenance research and restitution and, where needed, define new effective instruments to improve these efforts.

• To review the impact of the Stockholm Declaration of 2000 on education, remembrance and research about the Holocaust.

• To strengthen the work of the Task Force on International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, a 26-nation body chaired by the Czech Republic in 2007-2008.

• To discuss new, innovative approaches in education, social programs and cultural initiatives related to the Holocaust and other National Socialist wrongs and to advance religious and ethnic tolerance in our societies and the world.

Herbert Block, Assistant Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a co-coordinator of the recent Bratislava Seminar, and an upcoming participant in Prague, recently published a summary of the present state of property restitution in much of Central and Eastern Europe.

Lithuania: Sale of Vilna Ghetto Library Building Halted

Lithuania: Sale of Vilna Ghetto Library Building Halted

The Jewish Telegraphic agency has reported that the contested sale of a former Jewish property that once was the site of library in the Vilna Ghetto has been halted. Getting claims settled on properties like this one - one of hundreds stalled in the lengthy and complex restitution legal (and political) process is sometimes like getting blood from a stone. And these stones - and those nearby - certainly witnessed their share of blood.

Sale of Jewish property in Lithuania thwarted

March 30, 2009

PRAGUE (JTA) -- A Lithuanian plan to sell a building that once housed the Vilna Ghetto Jewish library was halted by the U.S. Embassy, JTA has learned.

The library building, which the World Jewish Restitution Organization and Lithuanian Jewish community identify as Jewish community property, housed 450,000 books of Jewish literature in Vilnius under the Nazi occupation between 1941 and 1943.

Herbert Block, an executive vice president with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and a top official with the restitution group, said the embassy in the Lithuanian capital had informed him by e-mail that the Foreign Ministry had acceded to the embassy's request to cancel the sale, which was to have taken place April 8.

Lithuania is among the few countries in Europe that has yet to come up with a restitution or compensation plan for Jewish communal property.

''For eight years the Lithuanian government has been promising to come up with a plan, but so far nothing has come of it,'' Block told JTA Monday.

The library is on a list of 438 buildings claimed as Jewish property that were taken over by the Communist government of Lithuania after World War II. The U.S. Embassy in Vilnius argued that the Lithuanian government should not be selling disputed properties.

In fact, the sale was not announced to any Jewish authorities but was uncovered by a local non-Jewish American activist in Vilnius, Wyan Brent, who alerted Jewish groups in the United States.

The restitution organization and the Lithuanian Jewish community recently rejected a $41 million compensation package for property, saying the sum, and how it was to be paid out over 10 years only if it was feasible for the government, was insufficient.

With numerous delays by previous governments and now the current government, the restitution process remains stalled, said Andrew Baker, director of international Jewish affairs for the American Jewish Committee.

Baker also was informed by the embassy of the library sale cancellation. ''It seems it was only blocked by a last-minute intercession,'' he said.

Belarus: Kobrin Synagogue Restoration Project Needs Emergency Funds or Risks Losing Building to Government Seizure

Kobrin synagogue photos: courtesy Yuri Dorn

Belarus: Kobrin Synagogue Restoration Project Needs Emergency Funds or Risks Losing Building to Government Seizure
by Samuel D. Gruber (ISJM)

In Bratislava last week I had the pleasure of getting to know Bella Velikovskaia, Executive Director of The Union of Religious Jewish Congregations in the Republic of Belarusand an expert member of the Jewish Heritage Research Group. Bella and her colleagues have one of the hardest jobs in Europe – documenting and protecting Jewish heritage in Belarus. They have made a good start with the documentation –and the results can be seen on the webpage of the Jewish Heritage Research Group, especially in the list of Jewish heritage sites. Protecting and preserving synagogue, former synagogue and cemeteries more difficult. Though some properties have been returned to the Jewish Community, the Jews of Belarus lack the funds to carry out many successful projects to repair, restore and reuse these buildings. Attempts have been made in the past to restore the great synagogue in the western Belarus town of Slonim, and also to find a use for the former Yeshiva building in Volozhin, both of which are important historical, religious and architectural sites. Unfortunately, both projects languish, though although the World Monuments Fund recently awarded a planning grant to all the Volozhin project to be re-addressed and re-formulated. A third pending project is the adaptive restoration of the the former synagogue in Kobrin. This project may have a better chance of succeeding – if funds can be found – since the building could serve again as a synagogue for the many Jewish communities in that part of Belarus who presently have no religious center.

To my great regret, I have never been to Belarus During the many years I was associated with the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad as Research Director, I was discouraged from engaging in projects in Belarus because of the frosty relations between the US Government and government of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko. In this, and in many other ways, the Belarus Jewish community has suffered from being out-of-touch with many foreign institutions, and ineligible for certain kinds of foreign assistance. Besides humanitarian aid from the JDC and some other Jewish charities, there has been little formal support from aboard for Jewish heritage projects. Mostly there have been donations from individuals which are usually directed as specific cemetery care projects.

The situation at Kobrin is now urgent, because the government which returned the large 19th-century masonry synagogue to the Jewish community in 2004 threatens to take it back unless restoration work begins. This is a situation that is also becoming common in Poland. After holding Jewish properties for a half century or more and letting them deteriorate into near-ruins, they are returned to communities - but without any financial assistance to restore them. Communities must not only quickly find a use for the building, but also the funds to make them work. Sometimes years pass and nothing happens. Sometimes governments demand quick action. I frequently say the situation is similar to being asked to make soup. On is given the carrots and potatoes, but not pot to cook them in, and sometimes not even a fire. Consequently communities are overburdened. In Belarus, there is a real plan for Kobrin. But there is not enough money. And the government threatens to take the building back if nothing happens soon.

Synagogue of Kobrin

According to Yuri Dorn, Coordinator of Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus, the 1868 synagogue building was given to the Jewish community of Kobrin and the Union of Religious Jewish Congregations in the Republic of Belarus in 2004. It had been used for grain storage after the Second World War, and later beer and nonalcoholic beverage production plant in the building prior to 1996. Then the building was given to the local history museum, but the museum lacked funds to start restoration. The synagogue building was left unguarded, and fell into further disrepair.
The restoration project was formally announced last September, and since 2004, much has been done to develop a project for the rebuilding and move it forward.

- all legal documents for property rights have been executed
- all legal documents for the right to rent the adjacent territory without any compensation have been executed
- new technical passport for the building has been executed
- a web site related to the restoration of the synagogue building was designed (www.kobrinsynagogue.com)
- $8,500 was given by a private donor to clean the synagogue and the adjacent territory and to remove of the garbage outside the city.
- physical and chemical analysis of plaster and outside wall paint was conducted, the research of the history of the building in historical archives was been made
- the grounds have been partially fenced and a watchman hired.

Still, beginning last year the local authorities began to for the restoration of the building exterior . According to sources, this is because he President of Belarus is going to visit the city of Kobrin in the mid-September of this year. Local authorities want the town to look its best for the President’s visit. They insist on implementing the following work on this building:

- replacing roofing with partial repair of the support system
- painting the building (exterior walls)
- closing window openings with wooden shields
- installing new iron entrance door

The cost of this immediate work amounts to $38,250, money the Jewish community does not have on hand. Estimates for the cost of the total renewal of the building are about a half million dollars (but this depends on the scope of the final project and the world economic situation). Certainly some of this work is needed – the building should be secured against the elements to prevent even worse damage. Some of the work, however, may be premature, since a complete preservation plan and design for reuse has not been completed.


The Union of Religious Jewish Congregations in the Republic of Belarus will continue to negotiate with local authorities to gain tie, and to create a situation where scare funs are spent on the most important parts of the project. Meanwhile they are raising money. In a worst case scenario, if the work is not done, they will lose the synagogue forever.

For more information and to make contributions contact:

Yuri Dorn
Coordinator of Jewish Heritage
Research Group in Belarus
Minsk
13B Daumana St.
tel/375-173-345612
fax/375-173-343360
http://www.jhrgbelarus.org/

Ruth Ellen Gruber writes about Bratislava Seminar of JTA

Ruth Ellen Gruber writes about Bratislava Seminar of JTA

JTA columnist Ruth Ellen Gruber (and my esteemed sister) has written about the recent Bratislava seminar (see my previous post). Ruth's advice was important in organizing the seminar, and her extensive experience in almost all the countries represented provided the participants with valuable perspective. Over the past twenty years Ruth has traveled extensively in and written about Jewish heritage in all of the countries participating except Estonia and Belarus.

Ruthless Cosmopolitan: New effort to preserve restituted property

By Ruth Ellen Gruber · March 26, 2009

RUTHLESS COSMOPOLITAN

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (JTA) – The restitution of Jewish communal property in Central and Eastern Europe has been a hot-button issue since the Iron Curtain fell nearly 20 years ago.

But often forgotten amid the slow and painful legal battles to get back historic Jewish properties that were seized by the Nazis or nationalized by postwar Communist regimes is the practical and urgent need to care for, conserve and maintain the properties once they’ve been recovered.

For two decades and more, I've documented, written about and photographed these sites, which include many yeshivas and synagogues.

Many are huge. Many are dilapidated. Some are recognized as historic monuments. Most stand in towns where few, if any, Jews now live. Even basic maintenance can stretch already strapped communal resources.

In March, I joined Jewish community representatives from 15 countries who gathered to address these concerns at a seminar held in the Slovak capital, Bratislava.

Read the full story here