Search for Nazi-looted property in the holdings of Baden State Library in Karlsruhe

Like other institutions dedicated to the preservation of cultural property and as one of the largest regional libraries in Germany, Baden State Library was itself involved in the state structures for the exploitation of confiscated cultural property that had belonged to Jewish citizens during the National Socialist era, and it benefited from this activity. Library director Dr. Friedrich Lautenschlager was appointed the expert for the appraisal of confiscated collections by the General Plenipotentiary for the State Commissioner District of Karlsruhe: he carried out an appraisal of several libraries, including that of his predecessor Dr. Ferdinand Rieser, who was dismissed under the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of 7 April 1933.

When the library building was destroyed on 3 September 1942, both the holdings and the administrative records of Baden State Library were destroyed along with it. The only items to survive this event unscathed were a few printed volumes stored in the air-raid shelter or borrowed during the bombing raid and the cimelia (manuscripts, incunabula and rare early prints) which had been removed previously in 1939. After the bombing, the inventory was quickly restored with the support of the responsible Reich authorities. The library was offered books for the restoration of its collection through the book trade, by second-hand bookshops, authorities and organisations, and also by private sellers and donors. It is these newly restored collections that contain items of Nazi-looted property.

During the years 2017 to 2019, a systematic check for Nazi-looted property was carried out by physical examination on the monograph holdings in shelfmark area 42 A/B/C – 50 A/B/C (general access) and O 42 A/B/C – O 50 A/B/C (special section – 'Upper Rhine'). 37,211 volumes that were added to the collection between October 1942 and December 1950 were classified according to six categories of suspicion in accordance with the provenance research manual for the identification of cultural property in libraries that was seized as a result of Nazi persecution. The result was as follows: 33.5% of the volumes reviewed are to be classified as unobjectionable. 65.6% of the volumes are unspecific in terms of their provenance. Only 0.8% of the volumes were classified as suspected cases of Nazi-looted property and 0.1% of the volumes were categorised as definite cases of Nazi-looted property.

Books confiscated as a result of persecution came from the libraries such as those of the High Council of the Israelites of Baden, the Chinuch Neorim Youth Learning Association in Karlsruhe and the Josefine and Eduard von Portheim Foundation for Science and Art in Heidelberg; several volumes acquired by purchase came from the Hans Peter Kraus antiquarian bookshop in Vienna, which was Aryanised in 1938; the previous Jewish owners, who suffered persecution, were also identified as Emma Fürst, Irma Schwarzenberger and Jenny Teutsch of Karlsruhe and the Klang family of Vienna. It was not possible to confirm the assumption that the state development aid provided for Baden State Library also resulted in the handing over of more extensive, clearly recognisable Nazi-looted collections on the part of state organisations and institutions.

All instances of suspected and looted property were documented in the K10plus database maintained by the catalogue association BSZ/VZG and in the local library catalogue, as well as in the cooperative provenance database Looted Cultural Assets (LCA); data was entered for a total of 459 objects, which in turn are linked to 29 persons or institutions. The 37 objects de facto classified as Nazi-looted property were also entered in the international database Lost Art. Restitutions have been initiated in five cases for 19 volumes.

The project and its results were presented at specialist meetings and conferences as well as to the general public at events organised by the library itself. The findings of the project on Nazi-looted property are permanently presented on the Baden State Library website.

© Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe