The selection criteria of the original owners

Published on 18 August 2016

More than twelve thousand books were catalogued during the first sixteen months of the project. In the course of library work, over two thousand of their original owners were discovered. Discussions with experts and the public showed that it is also very interesting to ask who those owners were. Thus, we decided to carry out historical research, within the first BFB initiative, into twenty original owners whose fate we would like to present in the future, both as text biographies and in an interactive form. So what people and institutions have been selected for further research?

The list of people and institutions generated by systematic mapping of so-called reserve collections is rather varied. It helped to formulate the conclusion that not all the books placed in the reserve collections of the National Library of the Czech Republic belong among those confiscated in World War II. Thus, we tried selecting the broadest spectrum of the owners possible, despite being limited by the availability of archive materials.

Private individuals who will be introduced to the public in the near future include the literary historian Václav Brtník, the founder of Czech propaedeutics Antonín Veselý, legal historian Wilhelm Weizsäcker, Professor of racial hygiene Karl Thums, politician Rudolf Lodgman, and Horst Böhme, Reinhard Heydrich’s close associate. Besides books from private owners, the reserve collections also include those from school libraries, institutions, societies, and companies. Thus, the National Library of the Czech Republic currently owns parts of the libraries of the Academic Grammar School in Prague, the German University in Prague, the Academic Reading Society in Prague, the Czech Women’s Manufacturing Society, the Czech Antifascist Society, Reichs Railway Bureau (Reichs Eisenbahn Amst), administrative courts of justice, and the Petschek & Co and ČKD companies.

The Norwegian partner in the project, the Stiftelsen Arkive foundation, shall bring detailed information on owners of foreign origin, Archival Depot Offenbach, Freiherrlich Carl von Rotschild´sche öffentliche Bibliothek in Frankfurt, SD-Hauptamt Bücherei der verbotenen Bücher, Grossloge für Deutschland, and Den Norske Store Landsloges.

Starting on 1 September 2016, we shall release one microstory a day.