(Even if you are not attending ALA, it’s good to know some of the cool things going on! You can always check the hastag: #ALALeftBehind to follow all kinds of good discussions during the conference!)
“Saturday, June 24th, 4:30-5:30pm
Chicago Hilton, Stevens Center, Salon A-5
Sponsored by the ACRL West European Studies Research and Planning Committee
PRESENTATIONS:
Gordon B. Anderson (University of Minnesota)
Books under Suspicion: Identifying Nazi-looted books in German library collections
Despite the persistent image of the Nazis being burners of books, in fact they valued books enormously and used them in countless ways to achieve their ideological and racial objectives. Being pathological kleptocrats, the Nazis stole everything from their enemies. During the years 1933-1945 they looted millions upon millions of books from personal and institutional libraries for deposit into Nazi-run “research institutes” and for acquisition by German libraries. While settling many issues, the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany, also opened up issues long ignored, especially the issues in restoring looted property and wealth. In late 1998, 44 governments (including Germany) and 13 NGOs adopted the Washington Principles on Holocaust Era Assets, which included the restitution of looted books and archives. Since 2002, with German government support, libraries across Germany have undertaking projects to identify looted books in their collections and make amends. In the spring of 2017 I visited several German libraries, and this paper is a report on their ongoing efforts and the dynamics of the process. I offer a preliminary assessment of their efforts to untangle and de-mystify the origins of many of their holdings.
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