A mortuary of books : the rescue of Jewish culture after the Holocaust / Elisabeth Gallas ; translated from the German by Alex Skinner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gallas, Elisabeth, author.

Contributor:

Skinner, Alex, translator.

Series:

Goldstein-Goren series in American Jewish history

The Goldstein-Goren series in American Jewish History

Standardized Title:

Leichenhaus der Bücher. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Jewish libraries--Europe.

Jewish libraries.

Jewish libraries--Israel.

Jewish libraries--United States.

Hebrew imprints--Europe.

Hebrew imprints.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Jews--History--20th century.

Jews.

History.

Jews--Civilization.

Cultural property--Destruction and pillage--Europe.

Cultural property.

Cultural property--Repatriation--Europe.

World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage--Europe.

World War, 1939-1945.

Jewish property--Europe--History--20th century.

Jewish property.

Cultural property--Destruction and pillage.

Cultural property--Repatriation.

Destruction and pillage.

United States.

Israel.

Europe.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 385 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2019]

Summary:

In March 1946 the American Military Government for Germany established the Offenbach Archival Depot near Frankfurt to store, identify, and restore the huge quantities of Nazi-looted books, archival material, and ritual objects that Army members had found hidden in German caches. These items bore testimony to the cultural genocide that accompanied the Nazis' systematic acts of mass murder. The depot built a short-lived lieu de memoire--a "mortuary of books," as the later renowned historian Lucy Dawidowicz called it--with over three million books of Jewish origin coming from nineteen different European countries awaiting restitution. A Mortuary of Books tells the miraculous story of the many Jewish organizations and individuals who, after the war, sought to recover this looted cultural property and return the millions of treasured objects to their rightful owners. Some of the most outstanding Jewish intellectuals of the twentieth century, including Dawidowicz, Hannah Arendt, Salo W. Baron, and Gershom Scholem, were involved in this herculean effort. This led to the creation of Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Inc., an international body that acted as the Jewish trustee for heirless property in the American Zone and transferred hundreds of thousands of objects from the Depot to the new centers of Jewish life after the Holocaust. The commitment of these individuals to the restitution of cultural property revealed the importance of cultural objects as symbols of the enduring legacy of those who could not be saved. It also fostered Jewish culture and scholarly life in the postwar world. -- Publisher's description.

"'A Mortuary of Books' explores Jewish culture after the World War II."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Confronting the present: the Offenbach Archival Depot

Envisioning a future: American-Jewish politics of restitution

Reconstructing Jewish culture: the new map of Jewish life after 1945

Building the new state: Israel and the European Jewish cultural heritage

Taking action in dark times: the commitment of Hannah Arendt, Salo W. Baron, Lucy S. Dawidowicz and Gershom Scholem.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Originally published as Das Leichenhaus der Bücher : Kulturrestitution und jüdisches Geschichtsdenken nach 1945, ©Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen, 2013."--Title page verso.

Translated from the German.

National Jewish Book Awards - Writing Based on Archival Material, Winner, 2019

ISBN:

9781479833955

1479833959

OCLC:

1056201055