Language:
English
Year of publication:
2012
Titel der Quelle:
Judaica Bohemiae
Angaben zur Quelle:
47,1 (2012) 85-107
Keywords:
Židovské muzeum v Praze
;
Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
;
Jewish ghettos
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Libraries
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Archives
;
Jews
;
Books History
;
Jewish literature History and criticism
;
Book collecting
Abstract:
Explores the foundation, functioning, staff, and work methods of the Ghettobücherei, from 1943 Zentralbücherei Theresienstadt (Central Library of the Theresienstadt Ghetto). The library was founded formally in November 1942, after the Nazi authorities decided to turn Theresienstadt into an exemplary ghetto (before that, it functioned clandestinely); thus, the library served not only the prisoners, but also the Nazi propaganda goals. It was conceived as a central library which was in charge of a number of small mobile libraries, as well as of special (medical, technical, etc.) libraries, social libraries, a reading room, and a Hebrew room. No less than 200,000 books went through the library. Outside the Zentralbücherei Theresienstadt there was a storehouse of printed Hebraica and Judaica that had been stolen by the Nazis from various libraries in Europe; contrary to widespread opinion, this collection was not part of the Central Library. A group of prisoner specialists dealt with the cataloging of these books. After the war, part of the collection looted by the Nazis was returned to the legal owners of the books and manuscripts, while other parts were transferred to the Jewish Museum in Prague and to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
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