A priceless collection of antique manuscripts and books that has been missing since Nazi troops looted it from the Shul in Rome may be languishing in an abandoned Soviet military archive. 

After leads from Italy to Germany, Poland, France, Ukraine and the US, researchers have secured an agreement with Russia to help to find the 7,000-volume library, which that dates back to the 16th century.

There is good reason to believe that the collection could be in a warehouse or other undocumented location, Dario Tedeschi, a lawyer who has been leading efforts on behalf of the Italian Government, said. Yesterday he described the decades-long hunt as “trying to unravel a historical mystery”.

The collection, known as the Library of the Jewish Communities, includes illuminated manuscripts, Seforim and Sifrei Torah printed in the 16th and 17th century.

(Times On-Line-UK)