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Hebrew 'Kristallnacht' bible returns to Vienna

November 11, 2009 15:42
Daniel Kestanbaum

ByJessica Elgot, Jessica Elgot

1 min read

A $30,000 Hebrew bible which was stolen from a library in Vienna during Kristallnacht has been returned to Austria.

It was due to be auctioned by the New York-based Kestenbaum & Company, which is owned by former Londoner Daniel Kestanbaum.

The black, leather-bound bible, which was printed in 1516 in Venice, vanished 71 years ago.
It had been donated to the library of the Jewish community of Vienna in 1908, before being looted by the Nazis on November 9, 1938.

But the book was seized before it could be auctioned in New York after it aroused the suspicion of the US authorities that it had been illegally imported into America.