Heirs Sue Israel Museum to Recover 14th Century Manuscript – RisePEI

A 14th-century Hebrew manuscript is the topic of a lawsuit filed this week in opposition to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The establishment has denied claims by heirs of a German-Jewish lawmaker that the museum has “unlawful possession” of the non secular guide, which has been in its assortment for almost seventy years.

That is the primary lawsuit in opposition to a museum in Israel to get better property misplaced within the Holocaust.

4 heirs of Ludwig Marum, a Jewish-German politician and public opponent of the Third Reich, introduced forth the declare in a New York state court docket. In court docket paperwork reviewed by ARTnews, the lawyer representing the heirs stated the swimsuit was filed in New York as a result of the museum conducts enterprise by way of the Manhattan nonprofit American Mates of the Israel Museum.

The medieval manuscript dubbed Chook’s Head Haggadah is believed to have been produced in southern Germany across the yr 1300. It is called the oldest surviving Ashkenazi Passover Haggadah, a quantity containing ritual textual content that’s used for non secular remark. The lawsuit claims the guide is value an estimated $10 million.

Marum was killed in 1934 below official Nazi orders. Marum initially obtained the script as a marriage current, the swimsuit says.

The swimsuit additional alleges that the museum initially bought the Haggadah tome in 1946 for $600, at the moment’s equal of $9,000 “in a backroom deal with out acquiring any proof of possession,” from a person who allegedly, “dealt in valuables of doubtful origin,” Its whereabouts between then and when Marum was killed, are unknown.

The dispute across the museum’s possession of the artifact was first raised publicly in 2016 when Marum’s heirs started to hunt compensation from the museum for what they described as “unlawful possession” of the guide.

The swimsuit claims that the museum later “eliminated and destroyed” a doc exhibiting that the Haggadah had been within the household’s possession for over seven many years. The submitting additionally accuses the establishment of failing to correctly examine the merchandise’s possession file, describing it as “stolen.”

The museum refutes this declare, arguing that, in 1984, Elizabeth — Marum’s daughter — penned a letter on behalf of the household saying the Haggadah ought to proceed to stay within the Museum’s assortment “for the advantage of the general public.”

Marum’s heirs say that Elizabeth, grandmother to one of many plaintiffs, tried to get better the manuscript right now however that the museum “thwarted” her efforts. The grievance alleges the museum “unlawfully refused to acknowledge the professional possession claims issued by Dr. Marum’s daughter Elisabeth.”

“She was repeatedly thwarted by the Museum,” the declare reads.

In an announcement, a spokesperson for the museum described the the heirs’ resolution to sue as “unlucky,” saying that the motion is “an try to undo her needs.”

The lawyer representing the heirs, Meir Heller, stated in an announcement that the case has broader implications for bringing different restitution claims, “regarding lots of of Nazi looted artwork and judaica items,” on the museum.

“There is no such thing as a different governmental answer like an advisory committee to do justice with Holocaust victims and heirs,” he added.

The present case “will make clear {that a} authorized motion might be introduced in opposition to the Israel Museum in the US below the HEAR act,” he added, referring to a 2016 regulation suspending time-based authorized defenses to claims for artwork misplaced below the Nazi persecution.