Forging the Future by Correcting the Past: Returning Nazi Looted Material from an Academic Library
Channel: CNI: Coalition for Networked Information
Date: 2023-05-23

Diane Mizrahchi, University of California, Los Angeles

By using HathiTrust, curators at the Jewish Museum in Prague located several books in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Library collection that had been looted by the Nazis during World War II. UCLA did not find any discussion of similar experiences among North American libraries, nor any professional guidelines for repatriating material. The speaker will share some historical background of Nazi book policies, how these books reached the UCLA library, the repatriation process the team developed, and why and how the UCLA library are publicizing this case as broadly as possible. As libraries continue the digitization of their holdings, possibilities grow of finding more material of questionable provenance from any area where war and violence have ravaged libraries, archives, and communities. Librarians are on the front line to help rectify these past injustices.

Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
May 2023 Pre-Recorded Project Briefing Series
More info: https://www.cni.org/topics/special-collections/returning-nazi-looted-material-from-an-academic-library

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