In 2011, Dr. Ariel Muzicant, then head of the roughly 7,700-member Vienna Jewish community, filed a lawsuit in the district court against the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem, calling for the collection of Vienna Jewish documents to be returned to the community’s headquarters.
Oskar Deutsch — the successor to Muzicant — declined to comment on Monday and referred the matter to the community’s Vienna-based lawyer, Daniel Neubauer. He told the Post by telephone: “We are going to do everything that is possible to appeal the decision. The Jewish community [in Vienna] is the rightful owner.”
If the Jewish community pursues its appeal, the case will require Vienna’s Jews to sue the State of Israel.
Judge Gila Canfy Steinitz — the wife of Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz — issued a four-page decision, which dealt with the dispute between the Central Archives, located at Hebrew University, and the Vienna community.