Historic Torah scroll saved from Nazis loaned to Liberec synagogue

An 18th-century Torah scroll, which survived the Holocaust and decades of neglect under the communist regime, has found a new home in the Liberec synagogue.

Known as Torah scroll number 108, the rare artifact is on permanent loan to the Jewish community in Liberec from the Memorial Scrolls Trust, a London-based organization dedicated to preserving Torah scrolls by the Nazis from Jewish communities in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia.

The scroll originally belonged to the Jewish community of Nymburk, where it was in use until 1942 before being confiscated during Nazi occupation. Jeffrey Ohrenstein, chairman of the Memorial Scrolls Trust, personally delivered the scroll to Liberec on Saturday.

This is only the third Czech synagogue to receive one of the Trust's 1,564 preserved Torahs, which survived wartime confiscation and were later safeguarded in London.