THE PAPERS OF ERNST GRUMACH ( ) Records Related to the Salvage and Restitution of Looted Jewish Cultural Property

Transcription

1 THE CENTRAL ARCHIVES FOR THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE JERUSALEM THE PAPERS OF ERNST GRUMACH ( ) Records Related to the Salvage and Restitution of Looted Jewish Cultural Property (Arrangement & Description by Anna Kawałko) Abstract: The selected material listed in this section stems from the private collection of Ernst located in The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem. The first part of the material reflects 's work as a forced laborer in the library of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), Department VII in Berlin which stored about 2 million Jewish books, manuscripts and archival material looted by the Nazis during WWII. Together with other Jewish scholars (later called the ' Group') he was put in charge of sorting and cataloguing the Jewish library for Nazi purposes. The second part of the material concerns 's involvement in the restitution process of looted Jewish cultural property in the early postwar years. A bulk of this material is his correspondence with other survivors of the RSHA forced laborer unit, among them were Arno Nadel, Hugo Matthias, Oskar Guttmann, Karl Escher and Erich Lichtenstein, as well as his correspondence with Jewish organizations, advocates and individuals as part of the effort to locate, identify and return the plundered libraries and lost collections to their rightful owners. The material also contains several reports, essays and articles devoted to the confiscation of Jewish libraries in Europe during WWII. Subjects: Libraries and national socialism; Libraries--Destruction and pillage--europe--history- -20th century; Jewish Libraries--Europe; Cultural Property; Judaica and Hebraica; Robbery; Restitution;, Ernst; Claims--Law and legislation; Reichssicherheitshauptamt--RSHA; Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg fu r die Besetzten Gebiete; Offenbach Archival Depot Languages: English; German Quantity: 3 Files Repository: The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem Finding Aid of the entire collection: 1

2 Note on the listing and marking of the container list: Each document in the list was marked with a number according to its original order in the file. Letters on specific topics and/ or between the same sender and recipient were grouped together and received one general title. All other archival material such as reports, lists, statements and other documents were listed under their original title. Square brackets indicate uncertainty concerning the accuracy of the information given. RECORD LIST Folder Page no. Title Content Date P205/17a P205/17a 1-33 Correspondence between Bruno Kondor, Ernst Bukofzer,, Karl Escher, Max Heyn and Max Schwarzwaelder P205/17a Correspondence between Ernst, Gerhard Falk and Paul Ronge P205/17a Correspondence between A.J. Van der Leeuw and Ernst P205/17a Letter from Gerhard Falk to P205/17a Correspondence between Ernst and Max Levy P205/17a Correspondence between Ernst and F. Becker P205/17a Letter from the Legal Representative of Voegele Family to Refers to: ' Group's' activity in the RSHA Department no. VII in Berlin. Includes: list of the ' Group' members. Refers to: Restitution of Dr. Isaac Leo Seeligmann's library. Notarized statement of Ernst on his work in the RSHA Department no. VII in Berlin. Includes: report on the Seeligmann's library. Refers to: 's work in the RSHA Department no. VII in Berlin. Refers to: Jacob H. Wagner's library. Refers to: Veitel Heine Ephraim foundation library. Refers to: Library of the Jewish community in Rome. Refers to: Immanuel Voegele's library. 19/11/ /01/ /01/ /03/ /03/ /03/ /04/ /05/ /05/ /03/ /04/ /04/1962 2

3 P205/17a 61 Letter from Legal Representative of Geisler- Althaus Family to Ernst Refers to: Looted correspondence file of Rabbi Samson Wertheimer and Dr. Joseph S. Bloch. 20/10/1965 P205/17a Court Summons and additional Legal Material P205/17a Correspondence between Legal Representative of Landgericht Berlin and Ernst Refers to: Restitution claim process of Miriam Manja Kalisz against the German Reich. Includes: legal materials for 's opinion. Refers to: Restitution of Potruch family's library and other private libraries. 09/11/ /03/ /03/1966 P205/17a Correspondence between Anna Sachs and Refers to: Rubin Mass's library. 20/05/ /06/1966 P205/17a Correspondence between Legal Representative of Landgericht Berlin and Ernst P205/17a Report on the Confiscation of Jewish Libraries in Europe during WWII Refers to: Samuel Krauss's library. By A.J. Van der Leeuw. Umfangreiches Gutachen des Rijksinstitut voor de documentatie en de geschiedsschrijving van Nederland in Oorlogstijd: 'Entziehung o ffentlicher und privater Bibliotheken in den besetzten Westgebieten und ihre Verbringung nach Deutschland' (1961). 24/05/ /06/ /06/1961 P205/17b P205/17b 1-26 Internal Documentation of the RSHA Department no. VII in Berlin and Correspondence between Members of the ' Group' P205/17b Greeting Card from Members of the ' Group' to Correspondents: Arno Nadel,, Hugo Matthias, [?] Narewczewitz and Oskar Guttmann. Includes: Abschrift des Befehls an Sturmbannfu hrer Eichmann u ber den Charakter der Arbeit der "ju dischen Bibliothekare" (1941). Correspondents: Arno Nadel, [?] Lewkowitz and [?] Stranz. 17/10/ /09/1942 [?] 3

4 P205/17b Correspondence between Ernst and Representatives of Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland P205/17b Letter from Karl Escher to P205/17b Letter from to Edwin Redslob P205/17b Correspondence between Erich Lichtenstein and Ernst Correspondents: Friedrich Zeckendorf and Kurt Levy. Refers to: Various restitution issues. Refers to: Edwin Redslob's article 'Walther Rathenaus Vermaechtnis' (article included). Refers to: ' Group's' activity. 24/03/ /03/ /09/ /10/ /10/ /12/1945 P205/17b Letter from Max Wiener to P205/17b 44 Letter from to Karl Escher Refers to: Various restitution issues. Refers to: ' Group's' activity. 31/01/ /02/1946 P205/17b Letter from Berthold Breslauer to P205/17b 48 Letter from Koppel S. Pinson to P205/17b Letter from Marta Lanz to P205/17b Correspondence between A. Schoyer and Refers to: RSHA's libraries in Department no. VII in Berlin. Refers to: Prospective article to be published on the ' Group''s activity. Refers to: Various restitution issues. Refers to: Restitution of Jewish books stored in the Offenbach Archival Depot. 24/03/ /03/ /05/ /02/ /02/1947 P205/17b OMGUS, Offenbach Archival Depot, Monthly Report No. 47 (January-February 1947) Partial document. 28/02/1947 P205/17b Excerpt from Inge Unikower's Book 'Suche nach dem gelobten Land. Die fragwuerdigen Abenteuer des kleinen Gerschon' Refers to: Books looted during the Kristallnacht in Berlin. Including a short history of the ' Group' activity in P205/17b Letter from Gershom Sholem to Refers to: Restitution of Jewish libraries stored in the Offenbach Archival Depot and in the castle of Niemes. 24/04/1947 4

5 P205/17b Correspondence between Ernst, Felix I. Kauffmann, Georg Thiel, Gerhard [Gershom] Scholem, Koppel S. Pinson and Marta Lanz P205/17b Correspondence between Ernst, Heinrich Gescheit and Peter Joseph P205/17b Report by on the Seizure of Jewish Libraries and the Activity of the RSHA Department no. VII ( ) Refers to: Private and institutional attempts for restitution. Refers to: ' Group's' activity concerning Jewish libraries. Beschlagnahme und Behandlung der fru heren ju dischen Bibliotheksbesta nde durch die Stapo-Dienststellen in den Jahren '. Includes: Two lists of seized private libraries and other cultural property. 24/05/ /12/ /10/ /03/1943 P205/17b Catalogue of the RSHA s Jewish Department Library System des Sachkatatogs der Abteilung Judentum im RSHA [?] P205/17b Material Pertaining to the Offenbach Archival Depot Includes: Overview of the book collections in the Offenbach Archival Depo; photo of the Offenbach Archival Depot; article on Lucius D. Clay in the Jerusalem Post. [?] P205/17b 'Juedische Bibliotheken in Berlin' (article) By Erwin Marks. Published in the 'Zentralblatt fuer Bibliothekswesen' P205/17b The Fate of the Jewish Book During the Nazi Era' (article) By Philip Friedman. Published in the 'Jewish Book Annual'. 1957/1958 P205/17b Reports on the Forced Labor Unit in the Library of RSHA Department no. VII in Berlin By, Anni-Ruth Misch and Ludwig Misch. Also refers to the fate of the Misch Family. 10/08/ /09/1947 P205/17b Correspondence between Anita Eiser, Ebhard Brost, and W.A Loewenthal Refers to: Restitution of Erich Loewenthal's library. 03/06/ /02/1948 P205/17b Correspondence between Erich Gottgetreu, H. Tramer and Manfred Sturmann Refers to: Article published in the Leo Baeck Institut Bulletin in 1975 under the title 'Zum elenden Unsommer'. 3/02/ /11/1982 5

6 P205/19 P205/ Letter from Anonymous Sender to Walter Breslauer P205/ Letter from to Max Wiener P205/ Letter from to Paul Maas Refers to: Status of German Jews after WWII; Jewish libraries and evacuation points. Refers to: 's work at the RSHA Department no. VII in Berlin and to the ' Group's' activity. Refers to: 's work at the RSHA Department no. VII in Berlin and to the ' Group's' activity. 29/11/ /11/1945 6