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Subject Guide: Book Looting During the Holocaust

Archival and library collection highlights found at the Center related to the looting and destruction of Jewish books during the Holocaust, and later restitution efforts.

Ex Libris Herman Struck, LBI 78.1391

Archival Materials and Collections

Library Markings found among the looted books in the archival depot. Volume III. Rabbinical and Historical Manuscripts RG 128, Folder 363. YIVO. 

Volume III contain photographs of ex libris and library markings found in the books similar to those processed by the Offenbach Archival Depot. The markings may be organized by country, city, or library. While the individual markings are numbered, an index is not found within the collection. If an index exists for Volume III, it may be found the United States Army's Offenbach records, which are found in National Archives and Records Administration Record Group 260.

Fred R. Oppenheimer Ex Libris Collection

Scores of bookplates (identifying labels) with drawings originating probably in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. Themes vary vastly, with only a few bookplates showing Jewish themes (e.g. Torah scrolls or similar). 

Kathleen Evans Ex Libris Collection

A collection of bookplates from German public and private (mostly Jewish) libraries. A diverse array of scenes are depicted in the bookplate images including people, landscapes, animals, buildings and graphic lettering. Some scenes are idyllic while others are morbid, the majority fall somewhere between these two poles.

Sally Bodenheimer Collection

The Sally Bodenheimer collection has a direct bearing on Jewish history in Germany and Austria throughout the 16th to 19th centuries and well into the middle of the 20th century. It encompasses manuscripts, rare printed documents, autograph letters, stamps, artwork (engravings), posters, broadsides, photographs, ex-libris, and various memorabilia.