What happened to the books from the Higher Institute after they were seized by the Nazis? – A complex logistical operation.
Since the onset of World War II, the Nazis plundered millions of books that had once been part of a vibrant European Jewish society. However, this endeavor required a complex logistical operation.
One of the main players in the Nazi book looting was the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in Berlin. The RSHA encompassed Nazi Security Services, Gestapo and Criminal Police, and was at the core of the Nazi persecution of their victims. They amassed a huge library of stolen books in their Berlin headquarters, including the 60,000 books that they looted from The Higher Institute for Jewish Studies of Berlin. The stolen books were used to confirm the antisemitic ideology that was so crucial to the Nazi party.
The stolen books remained in Berlin for a relatively short amount of time. In the summer of 1943, as air raids on German cities intensified, Jewish slave laborers were forced to pack up the stolen books so they could be moved out of Berlin.
In November of 1943, most of what had not yet left the city was destroyed when the RSHA headquarters were hit by an air raid, and caught on fire.
Fortunately, many of the books were moved beforehand to the countryside southeast of Berlin, a large quantity of them to the Theresienstadt Ghetto in Terezín, where they became part of the Ghettozentralbücherei, or Ghetto central library – and to two castles- Houska and Mimoň.
The Ghetto central library was founded in November 1942 and became part of the propaganda that presented the ghetto as a normal city for Jews. It was in operation until the end of the war. Half of its 200,000 books remained in Terezín after the liberation. These books were sent to the Jewish Museum in Prague, which was collecting “Jewish books” from Bohemia and Moravia. Although most of the collected books were relocated to other countries, some remained in the museum’s collections. Among them were the books originating from the library of The Higher Institute for Jewish Studies of Berlin, which can be identified based on the stamps from the Higher Institute and the library of the Terezín ghetto.
Stamp of the Higher Institute, the „Bibliothek der Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judentums Berlin“, dated between 1883-1922
Signature of the Ghetto’s library: „Judenbibliothek des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes“, glued to a book cover.. However, many of the Higher Institute for Jewish Studies’ books were spread all over the world. There were finds in Israel, Europe, the US and even Mexico. Many of the finds were not made by our researchers but by interested citizens. Here’s a map showing the locations of the books that were discovered so far.
Of course, many of the books are yet to be found.
Therefore, the Library of Lost Books project is seeking the public’s help to illuminate the stories behind the books that were looted during the Holocaust and invite you to participate in the global search for the institute’s lost library. Would you like to join, too?
