Items Made From Desecrated Torah Scrolls

Nazis sought to mock the Jewish religion. The Nazis destroyed synagogues and stole the most precious item of the Jews, the Torah. The Torah is a scroll of parchment on which the teachings of God are written.

 

To upset the Jews, Nazis often used the Torahs for their paper value, selling the scrolls as raw material for making purses, wallets, and leather products.

 

Nazis forced Jewish prisoners to make musical instruments from the Torah scrolls and then had other Jewish prisoners play these instruments for the Nazis. Similarly, Jewish prisoners were forced to make whips from the leather straps of tefillin (leather boxes with Torah verses on parchment that Jewish men attach to their heads and arms with leather straps). Those whips were used to whip Jews.