Wolfenbüttel, 1 October 2024
The systematic review of the provenance – i.e. history or origins – of library accessions since 1933 produced key findings on objects in the HAB collections that were seized from victims of Nazi persecution. The initial focus of the project ‘Assets looted by the Nazis among the Herzog August Bibliothek’s accessions made between 1933 and 1969’, which has been underway since 2022, was on the assessment of books accessioned during the Nazi period and the immediate post-war years. The review looked at suspicious entries, such as those from suppliers who were themselves persecuted by the Nazis or verifiably traded in Nazi loot. Entries were also examined from institutions involved in the seizure of property as part of the Nazi persecutions: the Gestapo, tax offices, customs offices and other ‘hubs’ of Nazi loot, such as the Preußische Staatsbibliothek (Prussian State Library). Other books that are under scrutiny are those with a low purchase price or gifts, volumes published more than five years before purchase, Judaica, books on socialism, Masonic literature, and unique miscellanea. The examination of antiquarian accessions to the main collection will also be completed. Two special collections were also in urgent needed of investigation: the collection of artists’ books, comprising some 350 items, and the Ernst Pepping collection, which has around 2,300 individual prints.
Findings
To date, checks have been carried out to examine 14,000 of the accessioned books, 350 volumes of Ars librorum and painters’ books, 909 volumes from the Ernst Pepping Collection, 3,246 volumes with the ‘F’ shelf mark and 2,041 volumes with the ‘numerus currens’ (accession number) shelf mark. Of these, the Ars librorum and the painters’ books proved least likely to contain traces of provenance. This circumstance may be due to deliberate manipulations, such as effacement. The frequency of cases of Nazi lootings and suspected Nazi lootings is significantly higher in the Ernst Pepping Collection. Among the volumes reviewed thus far, 1.8 per cent of them are Nazi loot or suspected Nazi loot compared with 0.1 per cent in the other HAB holdings. The review of accessioned books has also revealed that the HAB bought from suppliers who were known dealers of Nazi loot – and that it continued to some extent to purchase Nazi loot from them, even long after the end of the war. Overall, an average of 80 per cent of the volumes reviewed lacked any trace of provenance, which means that there are likely to be a large number of unrecorded cases of Nazi loot that is not recognisable as such.
Previous and ongoing restitutions
Since the start of the project in December 2022, seven volumes have been restituted. Of these, two have been returned to Vienna’s AK Bibliothek Wien für Sozialwissenschaften (AK Library Vienna for Social Sciences) as the legal successor of the Sozialwissenschaftliche Studienbibliothek bei der Arbeiterkammer (Social Science Study Library at the Chamber of Labour); another to the AK Bibliothek Vienna, where the private library of the lawyer Anton Menger was kept; two volumes to the heirs of the Mainz entrepreneur Felix Ganz and his daughter Olga Kreiß, née Ganz; one volume to the community of joint heirs of Olga and Heinrich Spiero; and one to the legal heirs of Valeriu Marcu. A further six restitutions to four different heirs and legal successors are still pending.
Restitution to the legal heirs of Heinrich Spiero
An ex libris pasted on the inside front cover of the book Luise: Ein ländliches Gedicht in drei Idyllen (Luise: A Pastoral Poem in Three Idylls) by Johann Heinrich Voß, indicated that it belonged to the private library of Heinrich (1876–1947) and Olga Spiero (1877–1960). Heinrich Spiero was subjected to antisemitic persecution under the Nazi regime and was arrested several times. In 1935 he was banned from writing and publishing. The imminent deportation of the Spieros was narrowly averted by their non-Jewish son-in-law, and they survived the Nazi regime in Berlin. Their private library is estimated to contain around 20,000 books. Having being banned from professional practice, Heinrich fell into financial difficulty and had to auction off over 250 sheets from his extensive autograph collection, and in 1938 he began to auction off large parts of his private library. The volume with the ex libris belonging to the Spieros arrived in the HAB collection in 1985 as part of the private library of the composer and university lecturer Ernst Pepping (1901–1981).
Following restitution, the co-owners of the Spieros’ estate – and the co-owners of the estate of Felix Ganz and Olga Kreiß, née Ganz – decided to donate to the HAB the prints seized from their forebears as a result of Nazi persecution. We are grateful for their trust and feel duty-bound to honour the lives and memory of the rightful owners and keep in mind the history of the objects. One way to do this is by documenting previous provenances in the library catalogue.
Looking ahead
Owing to the high frequency of distinguishing provenance marks in the Pepping Collection and the significant increase in workload this entails, an application was made to the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste to extend the project until 31 December 2025. This application was approved. The autoptic review, research and in-depth cataloguing of the provenance of the Pepping Collection, detailed research into cases of suspected Nazi loot, and the creation of dossiers on individual cases – as well as restitutions – are to be completed by that time.
Image: Bookplate of Heinrich and Olga Spiero