Heidelberg University Library is the central library of Heidelberg University. With a total collection of approx. 6.1 million media units (incl. library system; as of 10/2024), it is one of the most visited and most used university libraries in Germany. It is not only the oldest, but was also one of the largest German university libraries in 1933 with over one million volumes. By 1943, this stock had grown to around 1.2 million titles. Thanks to timely removal from storage, most of the books were saved from war damage.

The majority of the books that have so far been identified as seized as a result of Nazi persecution are books that came into the Heidelberg University Library from 1934 due to various confiscation campaigns of banned literature, as they were then recorded in codified form in the ‘lists of harmful and undesirable literature’ of 1935 and 1938 (as well as their later continuations). A smaller number of books owned by ideological opponents of National Socialism (Communists, anarchists, trade unions, Freemasons) were also included. All banned books were stored separately within the University Library until 1945, recorded in a separate card index and not generally accessible. Books owned by Jews, on the other hand, cannot be traced in the records, but have already been identified in a number of cases on the basis of the corresponding ownership characteristics.

Only a small number of books originating from the territories occupied during the war reached the University Library. Even among the books acquired in occupied France in 1940/41 with extrabudgetary funds, no suspicious prior provenances have been found to date. Most of them appear to have been recently published French titles purchased from the relevant bookshops. There is also no evidence to date that books were directly acquired in connection with the deportation of the Baden Jews in October 1940.

The research procedure is determined by the specific situation of the collection: the acquisitions of the University Library up to 1962 were not organised by year of acquisition, but by subject group. In addition, the in-house collection - accession, exchange and gift books - only extends up to 1938 and 1939. A complete overview of all acquisitions is therefore only provided by the handwritten index cards, on which the year of acquisition or, in the case of exchanged or donated titles, the exact date of acquisition has been noted.

Heidelberg University Library
Plöck 107–109
69117 Heidelberg

https://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/de/ueber-uns/drittmittelprojekte-aktuell/ermittlungen-ns-raubgut

Email: sekretariat@ub.uni-heidelberg.de

Phone: +49(06221) 54 2380