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Stolen Judaica Returns to Budapest

June 25, 1996
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The last two pieces of Judaica stolen from the Budapest Jewish Museum in December 1993 have been returned.

The 17th-century seder bowls were handed over last week to the museum’s director in the southern Hungarian town of Szeged, near the Romanian border, Gusztav Zoltai, executive director of the Hungarian Jewish community, said in an interview.

The two objects were broken into several pieces and need to be repaired, Zoltai said.

The bowls were among more than 200 pieces of Judaica stolen from the museum in December 1993.

In the summer of 1994, Hungarian police — with the help of Interpol — found 203 of the stolen religious objects in a small village near the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

Another 31 pieces were recovered in April 1995 in Romania. Those pieces were also returned to Hungary.

Hungarian police said they were seeking the extradition from Germany of one of the suspects, who holds German and Romanian citizenship.

But they were doubtful about securing the extradition from Austria of a second suspect who is a citizen in Austria and Romania.

The whereabouts of two other suspects are unknown.

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