THE FAMILY OF A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO KEEP A £6.6 MILLION ANCIENT GOLD TABLET HE RECEIVED IN EXCHANGE FOR CIGARETTES ON THE STREETS OF POST-WAR BERLIN. BERLIN'S VODERASIATISCHES MUSEUM HAD DEMANDED THAT THE 3,200 YEAR OLD ARTIFACT BE RETURNED BECAUSE IT WAS LOOTED BY SOVIET TROOPS. BUT A NEW YORK JUDGE HAD RULES THAT POLISH AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR RIVEN FLAMEMBAUM'S FAMILY NO LONGER HAD TO HAND OVER THE HISTORIC RELIC. FLAMAMBAUM DIED IN 2003 AT THE AGE OF 92, LEAVING THE TABLET TO HIS THREE CHILDREN, ISRAEL, HANNAH, AND HELEN. THE SOLD-GOLD TABLET ENDED UP IN HIS HANDS AFTER IT WAS LOOTED FROM THE MUSEUM'S STORAGE BY SOVIET TROOPS IN 1945, AND TRADED FOR SEVERAL PACKETS OF CIGARETTES. THE TABLET WAS FOUND IN THE RUINS OF AN IRAQ TEMPLE IN 1913 BY GERMAN ARCHEOLOGIST WALTER ANDRAE AND WAS SHIPPED TO GERMANY BEFORE BEING DISPLAYED AT THE VORDERASIATISCHES MUSEUM. NASSAU COUNTY COUNTY SURROGATE COURT JUDGE JOHN RIORDAN RULED THE MUSEUM HAD WAITED TOO LONG TO PRESS ITS CLAIM, AND DECLARED THE TABLET WAS RIGHTFULLY THE PROPERTY OF THE FLAMENBAUMS. THE FLAMENBAUMS' LAWYER SAID THE FAMILY HAD NO IDEA HOW MUCH IT WAS WORTH, WITH ONE EXPERT PRICING IT AT JUST £60. HE SAID THEY HAD NO PLANS TO SELL THE HEIRLOOM. 'THIS WAS PART OF AN IMMIGRANT'S TALE. IT WAS ONE OF THE THINGS HE WAS ABLE TO GET AND PUT IN HIS POCKET TO MAKE A NEW LIFE', HE SAID.
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