Norwegian auction cancels sale of Nazi-looted Torah fragment following outcry

A Norwegian auction house has canceled the sale of a Torah fragment believed to have been looted by Nazi soldiers during the Holocaust and reportedly used as wrapping paper, following an international outcry and intervention by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Valkyrie Historical Auctions, which specializes in World War II and Holocaust memorabilia, had listed the handwritten calfskin parchment with an estimated value of $1,500 to $2,000.

Described in the listing as a “sad and powerful symbol” of Jewish life in Europe, the fragment received a winning bid of $8,500 before the auction house canceled the sale and agreed to donate it to Remember Us The Holocaust (RUTH), a Holocaust remembrance organization based in San Diego. The reversal was reportedly linked to Israel’s intervention.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned the proposed sale in a post on X titled “A Nazi celebration in Oslo.”

Speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had instructed the ministry and the Israeli embassy in Oslo to intervene to block the sale of “a sacred manuscript looted by the Nazis.”

“Thanks to the embassy’s efforts, the auction was canceled and the parchment will be donated to a Holocaust remembrance organization in the United States,” the foreign ministry spokesperson stated.

RUTH confirmed that it had worked for 48 hours to “secure the fragment for preservation” and Holocaust education. The organization also consulted Adolfo Roitman, the former curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and head of the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, regarding the fragment’s “appropriate treatment and respectful exhibition.”

However, the fragment’s origins have yet to be independently established. RUTH Executive Director Moisés Salinas Fleitman told JTA that there was “no expert confirmation as of yet of the provenance of the scroll.” The organization had been told that the parchment was “found on a public market in Poland.”

The Norwegian auction house and its president, Norbert Podlseny, declined to respond to inquiries from JTA.

Gideon Taylor, president of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), welcomed the decision to withdraw the fragment from public sale but warned that the cancellation did not resolve the broader questions surrounding the handling of Jewish property looted during the Holocaust.

“There are many unanswered questions,” Taylor told JTA.

He also criticized the decision to offer the fragment for sale, arguing that its significance as a Holocaust-era artifact was incompatible with treating it as a commercial commodity.

“There is a profound contradiction in recognizing an object as a symbol of the Holocaust while treating it as something to be bought and sold,” he argued in his criticism of the Norwegian auction house.

Taylor said the case exposed a “lack of historical awareness” about the widespread Nazi plunder of Jewish property during the Holocaust.

“This is not simply an antique or a historical curiosity. It is a sacred Jewish object that represents a community’s religious life and the devastating destruction of that life during the Holocaust,” he explained.

The WJRO also urged the Norwegian government to investigate the auction house’s handling of the artifact.

“This is not about private collections; this is about the memory of the Jewish people,” Taylor concluded.

Norway is one of 35 countries that endorsed the 2024 Best Practices for the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. During World War II, Norway was ruled by the pro-Nazi government led by Vidkun Quisling, which actively cooperated with Nazi Germany.

Relations between Norway and Israel have deteriorated sharply since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

In November 2025, Israel condemned Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre after he attended a Kristallnacht memorial event organized by groups described in the original report as anti-Israel and openly opposed to the existence of the Jewish state.