Safe deposit boxes believed to contain manuscripts and drawings by Franz Kafka - one of the most important authors of the early 20th century - are due to be opened on Monday at a bank in the Swiss city of Zurich.
The BBC reports the move is the latest twist in a legal battle over who owns the documents.
Two Israeli sisters say they inherited the papers from their mother, who received them from the editor of Kafka's work.
The sisters want to sell the papers, but Israel is claiming them as part of the country's cultural heritage.
The contents will be examined by an expert who will report to the judge handling the case.
Kafka, who wrote the novels The Trial and The Castle, died of tuberculosis in 1924. He was 40.
