Tracing and restituting Nazi-confiscated property found in the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen

In the Third Reich, in addition to masterpieces, vast numbers of books were also stolen (looted literature) in the course of confiscations from banned and dissolved organizations and during the dispossession of emigrants and deported Jewish citizens by organs of the NSDAP and the state. Looted books were also seized in the territories occupied during the Second World War. While large numbers of these stolen books were sometimes deliberately destroyed or went astray amid the turmoil of war, many of them can still be found today in the holdings of academic libraries.

Research project

For some years now, research has increasingly focused on this important topic. Prompted by an exhibition in the Old Town Hall in May 2008 entitled “und euch zum Trotz”, which explored the Nazi book burnings of 1933, Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) began a closer examination of initial indications that confiscated and looted works had been accepted into its holdings during the National Socialist era. A nine-month preliminary project (September 1, 2008–May 31, 2009) was conducted with financial support from the Presidential Board of the University of Göttingen. Based on the initial preparatory work undertaken, the SUB Göttingen developed the concept of an extensive and systematic research project to trace and restitute literature that had been unlawfully acquired during the National Socialist era.

This research project involving researchers and librarians from the SUB Göttingen was carried out between June 1, 2009 and August 31, 2011. The Bureau for Provenance Research at the Institut für Museumsforschung (Institute for Museum Research) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz supported the project using funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, which totaled around EUR 60,000. The SUB Göttingen supported the project to the same extent with its own financial contribution.

Project tasks and work steps; documentation of results

In the preliminary project, a check was carried out of all the library’s preserved receipt books from 1933 to 1950 and the information contained in them relating to books acquired, their place and year of publication, their accession number, the date of their receipt and the type and source of each acquisition. This was for the purpose of obtaining an initial overview of the amount of suspicious acquisitions. In total, approx. 100,000 entries were checked. Of these, 8,221 were classified as suspicious and recorded in a database.

All suspect cases were examined in more detail in the research project. As well as investigating possible indicators of previous owners in the books themselves (owner’s stamp, donation bookplate, name, dedication, etc.), extensive research work was also undertaken in various archives in order to obtain more precise information about the particular manner and circumstances of the acquisition. All books eventually identified as confiscated or looted property were labeled as such in the Göttingen University Catalog (GUK). In addition, suspect cases with acquisition circumstances that cannot be clearly established were also marked as such in this catalog. The catalog entries also include explanatory notes and details (based on archive studies) of the acquisition history of the particular book. All verified and suspect cases of looted property were also published in the online Lost Art Database. At the same time, investigations were carried out into possible previous owners or their heirs so that an offer to return unlawfully acquired books could be made.

The historic background, working methods and results of the research project were presented to a wide public audience in an exhibition entitled “Bücher unter Verdacht – NS-Raub- und Beutegut an der SUB Göttingen”. It was on show from May 13, 2011 to July 10, 2011 in the foyer of the central library of the SUB Göttingen and supported by the Universitätsbund Göttingen e. V. The exhibition was also captured in a catalog of the same name.

Examples

In the Third Reich, the academic (not the public) libraries were the only libraries permitted to collect and hold forbidden literature under strict conditions of use. From 1933, Göttingen University Library accepted works of “forbidden literature” from disbanded organizations, and sometimes also from people persecuted on political or religious grounds, into its holdings. In 1938, it also began receiving large numbers of book consignments from the Preußische Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Prussian State Library), which had taken on a distribution role in the German library system in 1934. The authorities created lists of confiscated books and sent them to the Preußische Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, which made a selection for its own holdings and ensured that the remaining books were distributed to other academic libraries.

Particularly after the start of the Second World War, an increasing number of deliveries also came from the occupied territories via the Notgemeinschaft (emergency foundation), the Reich Exchange Office and the Procurement Office for German Libraries. In June 1943, the Procurement Office, which supplied the German academic libraries with academic literature from abroad, sent around 140 books to Göttingen which had stamps from prisoner-of-war camps or information on reasons why the books concerned had been censored or taken out of service.

Of the above-mentioned 8,221 suspect cases in SUB Göttingen’s storerooms which had all been examined in depth, it was possible for 1,081 books to be identified that were clearly, or suspected of being, Nazi-looted property. Among them are approx. 180 books banned during the National Socialist era which were owned by Harburg-Wilhelmsburg municipal library. The library tried in vain to get this stock back after 1945. In addition, in 125 cases it was possible to produce evidence that confiscated works from SPD and trade union libraries had been sent to Göttingen via local mayors. Furthermore, 32 books bearing the stamps of various trade union federations and labor unions were found; these came into the library via the Nazi labor association “Deutsche Arbeitsfront” (German Labor Front). In 1934, the SPD politician Dr. Heinrich Troeger gave Göttingen University Library 72 books containing Marxist content in order to escape political persecution. In accordance with the wishes of his family, who had been informed of the discovery by the SUB Göttingen, the SUB Göttingen gave these books to the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung where Troeger’s estate is kept. Hardly any books with Jewish former owners were found. Only two cases were discovered in which so-called “non-Aryans” had offered books for sale to Göttingen University Library. These books will remain in the holdings of the SUB Göttingen, in line with the wishes of their relatives.

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