Nazi‑Looted Books? A Systematic Provenance Review of the ZfL Library Holdings

Following the discovery of a small collection of French‑language books containing items that can be identified as Nazi‑looted property, a systematic provenance review of the ZfL library holdings is to be undertaken. This initiative is based on the well‑founded assumption that the ZfL library may contain further books that were confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution.

The project will involve a comprehensive examination of all books in the ZfL’s holdings with a publication date prior to 1945 (approximately 5,000 items in total), as well as the existing accession registers, with the aim of identifying problematic provenances. All provenance marks and features will be examined through direct inspection, documented photographically, and recorded in the catalogues and databases relevant to provenance research. The objective of the project is to determine which copies were subject to Nazi persecution‑related confiscation and, on this basis, to initiate and facilitate their restitution to the rightful owners or their heirs.

Fig. above: Restituted books from the library of Henry Torrès, previously held by the ZfL library, © Dirk Naguschewski