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The restitution was made possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, the Ministry of Culture of the Hellenic Republic, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland and the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

The History of the Greek Judaica

The Judaica were stolen from synagogues in Greece and from Greek citizens by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg – a German organisation active during the Second World War, which aimed at the systematic looting of cultural goods, works of art, libraries and archives throughout occupied Europe.

After the war, a collection of 91 historic artefacts was discovered in the Central Museum Depository of the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art at the castle in Bożków. The collection consists of, among others:

• 46 textiles
• 17 pairs of rimonim (ornate finials of the Torah scrolls)
• 9 individual rimonim or their fragments
• 1 pair of decorative pendants

In 1951–1952, the Judaica collection was transferred to the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, based on a handover protocol.

Historic Return

The Government of the Hellenic Republic submitted a formal request to return the Judaica in December 2024. It is the first time in history that another country has used the special procedure provided for in the Polish Act of 25 May 2017 on the Restitution of National Cultural Goods, which allows the return of objects illegally removed from the territory of foreign countries and located in Poland.

The return of the artefacts was encouraged by the World Jewish Restitution Organization – an international organisation representing the Jewish community in the recovery of property lost during the Holocaust.

Photo: Danuta Matloch/MKiDN