Research into the private library of Prof. Dr. Karl Neumeyer, which was confiscated in 1941, and reconstruction of the holdings

Munich legal scholar Prof. Dr. Karl Neumeyer (1869-1941) worked at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich from 1901 until his forced retirement in 1934. His work in the field of private international law and international administrative law is considered groundbreaking to this day.

From 1912 until their suicide on 17 July 1941, Neumeyer and his wife lived at Königinstraße 35a in Munich, in the immediate vicinity of the English Garden and the university.

The centrepiece of the building was an academic law library which was housed on the second floor and, according to an audit carried out by Neumeyer himself, contained almost 8,000 volumes, including four incunabula dating from the early 16th century. Faced with the threat of deportation and the loss of their home, the couple saw no other option than to commit suicide. The library was auctioned off on 12 August 1941 by the auctioneer Hellmut Lüdke (born 1899) at Hans-Sachs-Straße 8 in Munich. As was revealed in the course of the project, Lüdke worked closely with the Supreme Munich Finance Office on the “exploitation” of Jewish assets. The project was dedicated to investigating the exact circumstances of the auction of the library and researching its whereabouts.

© Stadtarchiv München