From Prague to Jerusalem. Jewish Cultural Assets and the Creation of the Israeli State

Against the background of two court cases in Israel in 2012, this article investigates the nature of the claims raised and their supporting arguments regarding Jewish cultural treasures transferred to Jerusalem after the Second World War and the Holocaust: The Max Brod estate case at the Tel Aviv Family Court, which drew considerable public attention, and the less well-known case at the Jerusalem District Court involving the records of the Community Archive of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde zu Wien [Vienna Jewish Community], which were moved to Israel after the War. The article links these cases to the transfer of Nazi-plundered German-Jewish cultural treasures found in Czechoslovakia after the War. It was through these claims that the young Jewish State of Israel asserted its collectivity.