A Hebrew Bible, published between 1516 and 1517, has been returned to its rightful owners after 71 years. The two-volume, black-leather-clad book, which includes commentaries by key medieval rabbinic figures, vanished from a library in Vienna on the night of November 10-11, 1938: Kristallnacht, the "night of broken glass." It surfaced at the New York City auction house Kestenbaum & Company in June; upon learning of its provenance, the auction house terminated the sale and its owner, who had not known its history, agreed to return it to Vienna. The Bible was repatriated to the Jewish community in Vienna at a ceremony at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, attended by representatives of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ), the U.S. Attorney's office, and the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien ( IKG ).
Find out more in the article at Media Newswire.
- Learn more about Kristallnacht at About's 20th-Century History Site, Guided by Jen Rosenberg.
- Learn more about Medieval Judaism and Jewish History here at the Medieval History Site.
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