Library
Staats- und
Universitätsbibliothek Bremen (previously known as Staatsbibliothek der Freien
Hansestadt Bremen) (State and University Library of Bremen)
Research into Nazi-confiscated cultural
property in the library's collection
Following a complaint in 1991 by
political scientist and Judaism researcher Klaus von Muenchausen to the Bremen
Senate, the library began undertaking research to identify looted books in its
collection. Since her appointment in 1991, Elfriede Bannas has undertaken
extensive research at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen. The
research has brought to light 1,500 volumes (1,200 titles), all of which entered
the library's collection in 1942. Over 230 volumes included notes by the owners
who amounted to 45 different families. Some of the previous owners were
identified with the help of records at the Bremen State Archives (Staatsarchiv Bremin
), and through advertisements
published internationally, which showed that many of the books had been part of
the household effects of fleeing Jewish families and that they had been
confiscated and auctioned in 1942. To date, 140 books have been returned to
nineteen families. In 1993, for instance, several books were returned to the
heirs of Leipzig music publisher Henri Hinrichsen.
Research into cultural property missing from
the library
Since 1996 25,000 books have been returned
to the library from countries which were formerly part of the Soviet Union.
Details of the library's war-related losses and the materials recently returned
can be consulted on the library's website under: A-Z/Geschichte der Bibliothek,
section 5 (Restitutionsbestände).
Contact Details
Dr.
Jürgen Babendreier /Dr. Thomas Elsmann
Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek
Bremen
Bibliothekstraße
28359 Bremen
Tel:+ 49 (0)421 218 2601
Fax:+
49 (0)421 218 2614
Email: suub@suub.uni-bremen.de
http://www.suub.uni-bremen.de in
German, sections in English
Source
Jürgen
Babendreier,'Jüdische Buch- und Lebensspuren', in Koordinierungsstelle für
Kulturgutverluste (ed.), Beiträge öffentlicher Einrichtungen der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Umgang mit Kulturgütern aus ehemaligem jüdischen
Besitz (Magdeburg: Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, 2001),
38-55. Text in German, Summary in English
<http://www.suub.uni-bremen.de >, accessed 17 December 2002