Taken During The Holocaust And Rediscovered In Poland - The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) Facilitates Return Of 91 Greek Jewish Religious And Ceremonial Items

The initiative was launched by Mark Weitzman, Chief Operating Officer of WJRO, who raised the issue during the June 2024 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) conference. Following a formal restitution request by the Greek government in December 2024, WJRO worked closely with both Greek and Polish authorities, as well as the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute (ZIH) and the Jewish Museum of Greece in Athens, to facilitate this return.

“The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) commends the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for this important step in addressing the issue of looted cultural property in Poland,” said Gideon Taylor, President, WJRO and Mark Weitzman, COO, WJRO. “Each item in this collection is a sacred link to a world destroyed, and their return by Poland honors what was lost. We are deeply grateful to the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute for its stewardship of these artifacts over many decades, and to the Jewish Museum of Greece for their vital cooperation in making this return possible. We also thank the Greek government for its leadership in ensuring these items return to Athens. While Poland has broader restitution issues to address, we hope this historic act marks the beginning of a consistent, systematic approach to historical justice.”

The artifacts were returned during a ceremony on March 4 in Warsaw. The event featured the formal transfer of the collection to the Government of the Hellenic Republic, represented by the Hellenic Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, and was hosted by Marta Cienkowska, Undersecretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The items are now being transferred to the Jewish Museum of Greece in Athens.

The collection was discovered after the war in the Central Museum Depository of the Polish Ministry of Culture and Arts at the castle in Bozkow, Lower Silesia. In the 1950’s, the Polish Ministry of Culture transferred the artifacts to ZIH in Warsaw, where they were preserved until this year.

Among the artifacts is a Torah mantle from the centuries – old Sicilia Synagogue and a pair of Torah Rimonim (ceremonial objects, usually silver, that top the two wooden rollers of a Torah scroll) dedicated to the Evora Synagogue in Thessaloniki – rare surviving artifacts of a once-thriving Jewish heritage nearly wiped out during the Holocaust.

This repatriation serves as a landmark moment for international cooperation in Holocaust-era restitution and underscores the importance of preserving and returning cultural heritage wrongfully taken during the Holocaust.

Background

Before the Holocaust, Greece was home to a thriving Jewish community, particularly in Thessaloniki, which was known as the “Jerusalem of the Balkans.” Approximately 59,000 Greek Jews—over 83% of the country’s Jewish population—were murdered during World War II. Communities in Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Thrace, and other regions were decimated, and Jewish homes, synagogues, cemeteries, and cultural institutions were destroyed or looted. In 1941, the Nazi looting agency Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) plundered Jewish communities across Greece, confiscating religious and communal treasures.

These looted items were transferred to Nazi depots in Lower Silesia, eventually falling under Polish custodianship after the war. In 1951, the Polish Ministry of Culture transferred the Greek Judaica to ZIH. Only now, after tireless advocacy and careful provenance research, are these objects being returned to their rightful cultural home.

Greece is currently home to about 5,000 Jews.

The artifacts now being returned represent a fragment of this lost world—objects that survived when so much else was erased. Their homecoming to Athens is a vital act of remembrance and restoration.