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The Contested Fate of Confiscated Books and Objectionable Literature

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Books Across Borders

Part of the book series: New Directions in Book History ((NDBH))

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on UNESCO’s intent to participate in deciding the fate and ultimate distribution of non-Jewish books confiscated by the Nazis as well as of the often-forgotten category of fascist and other “objectionable literature” confiscated by the Allies during and after liberation. These debates extended to questions of ownership of and rights to entire library collections confiscated or displaced during the war. To that end, this chapter delves into a case study of the Biblioteca Hertziana and Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, controversially designated during the postwar period as “ex-German libraries in Italy.” The chapter also examines UNESCO’s role in bringing enemy nation Germany, specifically German publications and libraries, into the organization’s networks of transnational exchange and cooperation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Kurtz, America and the Return of Nazi Contraband, 20.

  2. 2.

    Kurtz, America and the Return of Nazi Contraband, 23.

  3. 3.

    Allied Control Authority, Inter-Allied Control, Berlin, Order No.4, June 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 20, 6/4/46, Committee on Libraries, Publications, Museums and Special Projects Representation.

  4. 4.

    Carter to A.C. Robinson, Control Office for German and Austria, London, 3 October 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 42, 37/11/340.

  5. 5.

    For a comprehensive survey, see Jiří Toman, Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (Brookfield, VT: Dartmouth Publishing Company, 1996).

  6. 6.

    AME/B/8, Memorandum by Dr. Jan Opocensky, undated. UA, CAME, London 1942–1945, Vol. IV BPC.

  7. 7.

    UA, CAME/B/12, Replenishment of Libraries from enemy sources and Recovery of stolen books. CAME, London 1942–1945, Vol. IV BPC.

  8. 8.

    Carter , Additional Notes on ASLIB’s Tasks and Needs. RIBA, Carter Papers, Box 1, CaE/1, Folder 2.

  9. 9.

    For more about the Mission, see Kathy Peiss, “Libraries During World War II,” C-Span, 1 January 2015, https://www.c-span.org/video/?323922-1/libraries-world-war-ii. Accessed 20 August 2018, and Peiss’s forthcoming book on libraries and wartime collecting missions (Oxford University Press, forthcoming); Reuben Peiss, “European Wartime Acquisitions and the Library of Congress Mission,” Library Journal 12 (June 15, 1946). (reprinted at the request of Library of Congress Mission Frankfurt/Germany, APO 757). Reuben Peiss inscribed and signed an offprint “for Jack Zuckerman, who has contributed so much to the success of the mission.” Zuckerman Family Papers.

  10. 10.

    Zuckerman , Memoirs, 53.

  11. 11.

    Carter to Zuckerman, 29 August 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 43, 38/1/308, Libraries.

  12. 12.

    Carter to A.C. Robinson, London, 3 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  13. 13.

    Although it is never mentioned in the documents, Carter too may have had relevant contacts and experience based on the fact that he served, from 1943 to 1945, as vice-chairman for the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR. Carter, The Future of London, title page verso.

  14. 14.

    Zuckerman memorandum to Carter, 4 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  15. 15.

    Zuckerman , Memoirs, 48–49.

  16. 16.

    Zuckerman to Major Born, MFA&A, 26 November 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  17. 17.

    Memorandum on the relations between UNESCO and the Inter-Allied Book Centre, 20 December 1946, 2. UA, BNBC-IABD Part I.

  18. 18.

    Zuckerman to Theodore Besterman, 28 March 1947. UA, Confiscated Books.

  19. 19.

    Theodore Besterman memorandum to Zuckerman and Carter, 22 April 1947. UA, Confiscated Books.

  20. 20.

    Carter to MFA&A Section, Education Branch, 10 January 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  21. 21.

    There was no Allied Reparations Commission at this time; reference might be to the Roberts Commission, responsible for the protection of cultural resources, instead. Commission on the Protection and Restitution of Cultural Material, 12 March 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 8, D/6/0, Technical Sub-Committee in Educational Needs in War Devastated Areas Projects Governments.

  22. 22.

    Carter to F.R. Cowell, Foreign Office, London, 26 August 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 43, 38/1/308.

  23. 23.

    “News and Information,” UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries II:1 (January 1948): 2.

  24. 24.

    Carter to Jacob Zuckerman, 29 August 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 43, 38/1/308.

  25. 25.

    1st session Programme Committee, sub-committee on Libraries and Museums, Provisional verbatim record of the third meeting, 29 November 1946, p. 10. UA, General Conference 1. Session Paris 1946, Programme Commission I, Vol. 5.

  26. 26.

    Zuckerman Memorandum to Carter, 7 November 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 42, 37/11/340.

  27. 27.

    1st Session, Provisional Verbatim Record, 2nd meeting, 28 November 1946. UA, General Conference 1. Session Paris 1946, Programme Commission I, Vol. 5.

  28. 28.

    Carter memorandum to Julian Huxley, Walter Laves, André de Blonay, 28 March 1947. UA, Confiscated Books.

  29. 29.

    Julian Huxley to Chief Secretary, Allied Control Authority, 20 December 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  30. 30.

    Reuben Peiss, “My Mission to Frankfurt,” Library of Congress Information Bulletin (March 16–22, 1946): 1.

  31. 31.

    Associated Press, “Book Purge Clearing Out Nazi Literature,” Herald Tribune, 19 March 1945.

  32. 32.

    Zuckerman to Besterman, 28 March 1947. UA, Confiscated Books.

  33. 33.

    For more on German libraries during and after World War II see Margaret Stieg Dalton, Public Libraries in Nazi Germany (Birmingham: University of Alabama Press, 1992); Pamela Spence Richards, “ ‘Aryan Librarianship’: Academic and Research Libraries under Hitler,” The Journal of Library History 19:2 (spring 1984): 231–258; Marta L. Dosa, Libraries in the Political Scene (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974).

  34. 34.

    Zuckerman , Memoirs, 51.

  35. 35.

    Alex Boodrookas, “Total Literature, Total War: Foreign Aid, Area Studies, and the Weaponization of U.S. Research Libraries,” Diplomatic History 0:0 (2018): 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhy073

  36. 36.

    Quoted in Dr. Howard Wilson, Deputy Executive Secretary, to Air Chief Marshall Sir Sholto-Douglas, Commander-in-Chief, British Zone of Occupation, 11 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  37. 37.

    Peiss, “My Mission to Frankfurt,” 1.

  38. 38.

    Memorandum of talk with Mr. Zuckerman, 20 August 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  39. 39.

    Robert B. Downs, “Wartime Co-operative Acquisitions,” The Library Quarterly 19:3 (July 1949): 165.

  40. 40.

    Dr. Howard Wilson to Air Chief Marshall Sir Sholto-Douglas, Commander-in-Chief, British Zone of Occupation, 11 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  41. 41.

    Major General K.D. Friss to M.C. de Tredern, Allied Control Authority, 11 June 1946. NARA, RG 260, Records of the United States Occupation Headquarters, World War II, Records of the U.S. Elements of Inter-Allied Organizations, Records of U.S. Element, Bipartite Control Office, Records maintained by the BICO Advisor; Recs re: The Activities of the DIAC [Directorate of Internal Affairs and Communications] & ACA [Allied Control Authority], 1946–48, Box 481, Folder Letter from UNESCO Concerning Allocation of Books Found on German Territory.

  42. 42.

    Carter memorandum to Dr. Wilson, 26 September 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  43. 43.

    Zuckerman to A.C. Robinson, 7 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  44. 44.

    Zuckerman to Reuben Peiss, 9 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  45. 45.

    S.P. Whitby, for Chief, I.A. and C. Division, Berlin, to UNESCO Preparatory Commission, 10 February 1947. UA, Confiscated Books.

  46. 46.

    Lucius D. Clay, Lieutenant General, US Army, OMGUS, to Howard Wilson, 23 October 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 42, 37/11/340, Libraries.

  47. 47.

    Julian Huxley to Adjutant General, OMGUS, Berlin, 8 November 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  48. 48.

    N.D. Kostenko, Lieutenant Colonel, Chief Secretary, Allied Control Authority, to Dr. Howard Wilson, 19 March 1947. UA, Confiscated Books.

  49. 49.

    Carter to Keyes Metcalf, 29 July 1948. UA, 02 A 855 International Exchange of Publications.

  50. 50.

    Zuckerman memorandum to Carter, 4 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  51. 51.

    Zuckerman memorandum to Carter, 25 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  52. 52.

    Zuckerman to Lieutenant Colonel Shelton, University & School Section of Military Government, British Zone of Occupation, 7 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  53. 53.

    Zuckerman to Elaine Jones, EPCOM, 13 March 1947. UA, Confiscated Books.

  54. 54.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1:1 (April 1947): 24.

  55. 55.

    Zuckerman , Memoirs, 57.

  56. 56.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries II:7 (July 1948): 238.

  57. 57.

    Zuckerman , Report on Mission to Germany, 10–16 April 1949, 19 April 1949. UA, 02 A 855 International Exchange of Publications.

  58. 58.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1:9 (December 1947): 257.

  59. 59.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries II:7 (July 1948): 238–240.

  60. 60.

    Harry M. Lydenberg, Library of Congress Mission to Dr. Hanns W. Eppelsheimer, Stadtische Bibliothek, 25 April 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  61. 61.

    Dr. Howard Wilson to Air Chief Marshall Sir Sholto-Douglas, Commander-in-Chief, British Zone of Occupation, 11 October 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  62. 62.

    Memorandum of talk with Mr. Zuckerman, 20 August 1946. UA, Confiscated Books.

  63. 63.

    C.R. Morey, President, Union of Institutes of Archaeology, History and History of Art, American Academy in Rome, to United Nations Organization, 17 January 1947. UA, 02 (45) (=30) Ex-German Libraries in Italy (hereafter Ex-German Libraries).

  64. 64.

    Carter , Memorandum of a discussion with Dr. Pierre Bourgeois, Dr. Rudi Salat, Dr. Heydenreich and Mr. Thompson, 30 May 1950. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  65. 65.

    Carter to Morey, 13 February 1947. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  66. 66.

    Aide-memoire for Professor Syme, undated. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  67. 67.

    Progetto di Statuto per la gestione delle biblioteche Ex-germaniche in Italia, undated. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  68. 68.

    Contract concluded with the International Union of the Institutes of Archaeology, History and History of Art in Rome, undated. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  69. 69.

    Carter to Director-General, 28 July 1949. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  70. 70.

    C.R. Morey to Carter, 9 November 1948. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  71. 71.

    Carter to C.R. Morey, 14 December 1948. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  72. 72.

    Carter to Morey, undated [summer 1949]. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  73. 73.

    Carter to Director-General, 28 July 1949. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  74. 74.

    C.R. Morey to Carter, 3 August 1949. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  75. 75.

    André de Blonay to Secretary General, International Union of Institutes of Archaeology, History and History of Art, 26 September 1949, 17 September 1949. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  76. 76.

    Ward Perkins to Carter, 18 November 1949. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  77. 77.

    André de Blonay to Office of the Director-General, 24 April 1951. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  78. 78.

    Ex-German Libraries in Italy, Memo of discussion between Dr. Rudolf Salat, Delegate of Germany at the 6th General Conference of UNESCO and Carter. UA, Ex-German Libraries.

  79. 79.

    Bibliotheca Hertziana Max-Planck-Institut Für Kunstgeschichte, “History of the Institute,” http://www.biblhertz.it/en/institute/history-of-the-institute. Accessed 2 August 2018.

  80. 80.

    Charles M. Fleischner to Carter, 19 March 1947. NARA, RG 260, MFAA, OMGUS, M1921, Roll 2, Folder 77 Archives-Libraries: UNESCO.

  81. 81.

    Charles Thomson to Carter, 28 August 1947. UA, World Jewish Library.

  82. 82.

    Edward Carter, “The Birth of UNESCO’s Library Programmes,” in Med Boken Som Bakgrunn: Festskrift til Harald L. Tveterås (Oslo: Forlagt av. Johan Grundt Tanum, 1964), 192.

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  1. Alden Library, Ohio University Libraries, Athens, OH, USA

    Miriam Intrator

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Intrator, M. (2019). The Contested Fate of Confiscated Books and Objectionable Literature. In: Books Across Borders. New Directions in Book History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15816-3_5

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