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idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library (UB) at Goethe University Frankfurt has been systematically reviewing its collections since 2020 to identify Nazi-looted property and return it to its rightful owners. The provenance research is supported by the German Lost Art Foundation. For the first time, volumes have now been restituted to the Jewish Community of Frankfurt, including books from the collection of one of the city’s prominent Jewish families.
In numerical terms, it was a comparatively small restitution: five volumes were handed over within the premises of the University Library (UB). What made the occasion exceptional was that this marked the first time the UB returned books to Frankfurt’s Jewish Community. Among them were volumes previously owned by individuals of central importance to the predecessor community. Julius Blau (*1861), an attorney and notary, served as chair of the Israelite Community from 1903 until his death in 1939 and was actively involved in numerous Jewish aid organizations. His term of office included milestones such as the construction of the Westend Synagogue (1910) and the Philanthropin – the city’s historic Jewish school – on Hebelstraße (1908), but also the early years of the Nazi era. His son Ernst (*1892) worked as a librarian for the Israelite Community, emigrated to France in 1939, and died in 1941 at the Gurs concentration camp. Two additional books originated from the community library itself or from the “Tagesheim der erwerbslosen jüdischen Jugend” [Day Home for Unemployed Jewish Youth].
“Mr. Justizrat Dr. Blau with best regards from Vf” is handwritten in a publication about the “Frankfurter Sammelkatalog”, bound together with other booklets in a single volume. Another booklet in the same volume bears a personalized bookplate identifying “Dr. Ernst Blau,” Julius Blau’s son, as the owner. A copy of Nahum Norbert Glatzer’s “History of the Talmudic Era” is identifiable by a stamp from the Israelite Community, while the “General Encyclopedia” carries a stamp from the Day Home for Unemployed Jewish Youth. Such clear evidence of previous ownership is not always available to the UB’s provenance research team. The exact route by which the books entered the library’s collection can no longer be reconstructed. Based on cataloging data, however, it is clear that the volumes must have arrived before the end of the Nazi regime.
Although the restituted books are neither valuable nor rare editions, their return is nonetheless of great significance to Frankfurt’s Jewish Community: “For us, this is a very important acknowledgment of the injustice inflicted on Jews in Frankfurt,” says Rachel Heuberger, a member of the Jewish Community Frankfurt’s five-person board and a former University Library employee, where she led the renowned Judaica collection until 2019. She welcomes the fact that, with funding from the German Lost Art Foundation, the UB is now able to systematically review its holdings. Julius and Ernst Blau are well-known figures within the community, and their memory is held in high regard. In 1936, the Israelite Community was designated as the Blau family’s sole heir through an inheritance contract. In 1964, it received limited “compensation” for the family’s losses, including payments related to the Jewish Property Tax, the Reich Flight Tax, and the Dego levy imposed at the time of Ernst Blau’s emigration. The family home was burned down during the November Pogroms of 1938.
Before the Nazi era, the Israelite Community’s library comprised 11,531 works in 14,085 volumes, as recorded by librarian Dr. Ernst Blau in 1932. These included the valuable book collection of the Marburg philosopher Hermann Cohen and, on loan, the collection of Frankfurt Orientalist Raphael Kirchheim. Like most Jewish property, the library was later confiscated by the Nazis. The recovered books are now being integrated into the Jewish Community’s current collection. Given the scale of the losses, reconstruction of the original library is not possible, Heuberger explains. However, following the identification of additional suspected cases of Nazi-looted property, the University Library expects to carry out further restitutions. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” says provenance researcher Darleen Pappelau.
Goethe University’s Executive Board established the Forum for University History with the goal of bringing together and making accessible projects focused on exploring the history of the university and its collections. Provenance research at the UB is part of this growing network.
About the University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg (UB JCS)
The University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg is one of Germany’s leading academic libraries, known for its extensive collections and resources. It serves multiple roles: as a university library with numerous state-level responsibilities, as a scientific library for the city of Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region, and as a specialized library contributing to nationwide literature and information services.
https://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/
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Captions:
Image 1: Following the handover of the books on the University Library’s grounds in Bockenheim: Dr. Daniel Korn (Member of the Board, Jewish Community Frankfurt), Dr. Rachel Heuberger (Member of the Board, Jewish Community Frankfurt), Bernhard Wirth (Head of UB’s Provenance Research Project), Daniel Dudde (Member of the Provenance Research Project), Darleen Pappelau (Member of the Provenance Research Project), Dr. Mathias Jehn (Head of UB’s Curation, Specialized Information and Engagement Department). (Photo: Baunemann)
Image 2: The first five books returned by the University Library to Frankfurt’s Jewish Community. (Photo: Baunemann)
Image 3: The volumes from the collection of librarian Dr. Ernst Blau are adorned with a beautiful bookplate. (Photo: Baunemann)
Image 4: Stamps indicate the Israelite Community or the Home for Unemployed Jewish Youth as the previous owners. (Photo: Baunemann)
Dr. Mathias Jehn
Head of UB’s Curation, Specialized Information and Engagement Department
Freimannplatz 1
60325 Frankfurt
Phone +49 (0)69 798-39007
E-Mail m.jehn@ub.uni-frankfurt.de
https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/english/research-project-at-university-librar...
Dr. Daniel Korn (Member of the Board, Jewish Community), Dr. Rachel Heuberger (Member of the Board, ...
Source: Baunemann
Copyright: UB
The volumes from the collection of librarian Dr. Ernst Blau are adorned with a beautiful bookplate.
Source: Baunemann
Copyright: UB
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