Norway removes Torah fragment from sale after Israel's reaction — Jerusalem Post
Norwegian auction house Valkyrie Historical Auctions removed from sale a fragment of a Torah scroll that was described in the catalogue as having been looted by German SS troops during the Holocaust. This happened after a sharp reaction from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Lot description and Israel’s reaction
In the lot description, the auction house stated that the handwritten fragment on calfskin parchment bore signs of damage, likely caused by fire. According to the version presented in the catalogue, an SS soldier used it as wrapping paper to send a parcel to Germany. The parchment partially showed the serviceman’s field-unit details and the recipient’s address.
The fragment was estimated at between $1,500 and $2,000. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the offering of such an item for auction morally unacceptable. The ministry also mentioned a proposal by the Norwegian government to stop funding trips by Norwegian schoolchildren to former Nazi concentration camps.
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Lot marked as sold
After the auction ended, the fragment was marked as sold for $8,500. Together with a 25 percent buyer’s premium, the total amount was to be $10,625. At the same time, a representative of Valkyrie Historical Auctions told the Norwegian outlet Verdinytt that the lot had been withdrawn about ten minutes before the bidding began.
According to him, due to a lack of time, the auction house could not technically remove the item from the system, so it placed its own bid high enough that no one could outbid it. The representative also said that the parchment is planned to be transferred to the non-profit organization RUTH Remember Us The Holocaust in San Diego, California.
Norwegian-Israeli activist On Elpeleg said that items belonging to Jewish victims of the Holocaust should be returned to their rightful owners or their descendants and, if that is impossible, transferred to the Jewish Museum in Oslo.
