NS Provenance Research at the ULB Tirol
As early as 2002, when the problem of the provenance of books in libraries was first discussed in the media, the "entry journals" of the Innsbruck University Library for the years 1938 to 1946 were scrutinised for suspicious entries.
Since 2008, the copies received between 1933 and 1950 have been subjected to a detailed examination by autopsy.
The acquisition for the main library can be traced relatively seamlessly thanks to the available entry journals. The search in the holdings of the former departmental libraries, which only came into the sphere of influence of the University Library in the course of UOG 75, is more difficult. Here the source situation, especially with regard to the provenance of the books, is very different and mostly non-existent.
In 2007, the University and State Library organised an exhibition on the subject of "The University Library under National Socialism". As part of the preparations for this exhibition, the library directorate's files from the Nazi era were systematically scrutinised. Here, too, no documents were found that gave rise to the assumption that the Nazi authorities had handed over or received looted book collections from the library.
In the meantime, the acquisitions from the "Notgemeinschaft", "Reichstauschstelle Berlin", "Beschaffungsamt" or other gifts were examined for the presence of provenance features. A total of 251 copies from the Reichstauschstelle were recorded. Some of these works have a bookplate or another relevant note.
A list of these works can be found at here.
References:
Schreiber Horst, Endzeit: Krieg und Alltag in Tirol 1945.
Contact: Dr Barbara Flora: +43 512 507 25071, barbara.flora@uibk.ac.at; Mag. Jennifer Moritz: +43 512 507 25028, jennifer.moritz@uibk.ac.at