The Department of Justice announced that its agents and agents from the Department of Homeland Security have seized 17 historical Jewish texts that Nazis absconded with from Romania, Hungary, Ukraine and Slovakia during World War II.

Federal law enforcement agents became of the documents–Jewish funeral scrolls, Pinkas Manuscripts and community records–thanks to a Brooklyn auction house, the consigner and a purchaser after the documents were put up for sale, apparently with falsified provenance.

“The Scrolls and Manuscripts that were illegally confiscated during the Holocaust contain priceless historical information that belongs to the descendants of families that lived and flourished in Jewish communities before the Holocaust. This Office hopes that today’s seizure will contribute to the restoration of pre-Holocaust history in Eastern Europe.” stated Jacquelyn Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.  “I commend the efforts of this Office’s Civil Division and HSI in recovering these important religious artifacts.”

The investigation also located three additional texts that had been sold to a private owner in Israel and another one in private hands in New York state.

The auction house had put the 21 items up for sale in February 21st, and the purchaser of one of the pieces was able to track the history of the document, discovering that the artifact had been looted by Nazis during World War II.  He contacted the auction house, who then contacted the consigner, and all three alerted the Department of Justice of their concerns.

The documents–some dating to 1840–contain birth and death records for Jewish communities who were confined to ghettos in their home cities.  Many were shipped to death camps and did not survive the war.  Other books contained prayers for the dead and memorial pages for deceased family members.

The US government will work with the various countries to try to return the documents to the appropriate community.