Israel Museum returns artifacts looted by Nazis to their owners

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Israel Museum says it has returned three 1,700-year-old medallions to the heirs of their owners, who lost them to the Nazis. The glass-and-gold medallions were part of a collection seized in Warsaw from a Polish noble family. They later surfaced in Vienna, where they were purchased for the museum. Two medallions bear Jewish symbols like Torah scrolls. The museum says they were buried in Jewish tombs in the catacombs of Rome in the 3rd or 4th century. Museum director James Snyder said their worth for Jewish culture was "priceless." He said they were some of the first relics found outside Israel bearing symbols related to the biblical Jewish temples.