After an auction house in Norway attempted to sell a fragment of a Torah scroll looted by the Nazis, a public outcry ensued.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also intervened and, according to a ministry spokesperson, asked the Israeli embassy in Norway to prevent the sale, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). “Thanks to the embassy’s efforts, the auction was canceled, and the parchment will be donated to a Holocaust remembrance organization in the United States,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told the JTA.
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Previously, Israel’s foreign ministry had called the sale, which had been scheduled for October 18, “A Nazi celebration in Oslo.”
The Valkyrie Historical Auctions in Oslo listed the artifact on its “Historical 3rd Reich Items” online auction. The torah fragment lacks complete expert confirmation of its provenance. A description for the lot reads, “Very Old Piece of Jewish Torah Roll Plundered by SS German Soldiers During Soah and sent to a relative as a souvenir.…