Anders RydellCritiques

Mellan 1933 och 1945 stal nazisterna miljontals antikviteter och konstverk. På direkt order från Hitler sändes specialtränade trupper ut över Europa för att plundra. De allra främsta verken skulle visas på Hitlers planerade Führermuseum. Efter kriget återfanns mycket av konsten, men över hundratusen verk försvann

“Milhões de livros esquecidos de milhões de vidas perdidas” Quando decidiu seguir o rastro dos saqueadores de livros do período nazista, o jornalista sueco Anders Rydell lançou- -se numa jornada de milhares de quilômetros pela Europa. Seu intuito era compreender os fatos que levaram a essa ação tão cruel e descobrir o que ainda existe de tudo o que se perdeu durante a Segunda Guerra. “Milhões de livros esquecidos de milhões de vidas perdidas”, foi o que constatou o autor após percorrer as mais remotas bibliotecas do continente. Mas o que de fato desejavam os soldados de Hitler com a pilhagem de livros pertencentes a judeus, comunistas, políticos liberais, maçons, católicos e tantos outros grupos de oposição? Como esse crime literário sem precedentes na história contribuiu para o aniquilamento cultural dos povos perseguidos pelo nazismo? Ladrões de livros – A história real de como os nazistas roubaram milhões de livros durante a Segunda Guerra relata em detalhes os saques efetuados em bibliotecas, livrarias e acervos pessoais no período nazista e mostra, ainda, como um pequeno time de bibliotecários trabalha heroicamente para tentar devolver esses exemplares às vítimas do Holocausto e suas famílias. Uma narrativa emocionante que revela o que um único livro pode representar para quem perdeu tudo no conflito mais sangrento da história.

It is obvious how much research has gone into this book and how important it is for the world to know about the records that exist concerning stolen books from WWll.
However, I was disappointed that this book was short on personal stories. It reads a bit dry with an emphasis on historical accuracy at the expense of being interesting.

It as very informative, but the chapters were very repetitive: the Nazis went here and took this amazing collection of books and documents, and then they went here and did a very similar thing. The most interesting thing was learning about how the Nazis were using these materials to build their propaganda.

A very important book that should be brought to the attention of younger people, especially those not born in the bloodiest century in human history, the 20th.

This is a fascinating, detailed and absorbing history of Nazi Germany's theft of 100's of millions of books during WW2, and the almost total lack of attempts to make restitution of them to the descendants of the victims of the thefts.

he Book Thieves was an impulse loan from the library. I’d heard a lot about the Nazi theft of artworks and their burning of books, but I knew nothing about the systematic theft of books…
But it takes only a moment’s thought to realise that of course there would have been precious collections of books all over Europe, and of course they would have been looted by the Germans, just as the precious artworks and other collectibles were. Invaders have always looted the possessions of the vanquished, and all the major museums of the world have treasures that originally belonged elsewhere. In some cases, perversely, that’s turned out to be a good thing: many of Afghanistan’s ancient treasures were smuggled out of the destructive hands of the Taliban and even if they’re in the hands of private collectors now, at least they still exist. OTOH in the case of the Baghdad Museum, there are irreplaceable losses because the US failed to put a strategy in place for the protection of the collection. All over Europe, there are heroic stories of collections being hidden away from the invading Germans in WW2, but many treasures fell prey to the looting all the same. (Geraldine Brooks wrote a book about an example of saving a precious book: it’s called The People of the Book. I read it before I started blogging, but Ursula Le Guin reviewed it here),
However, the German plunder was not confined to collections in museums and art galleries. The Nazi regime systematically dispossessed Jews of everything they owned as part of their genocidal intent, and that included stealing books in private collections. But book theft also applied to any of the ideological enemies of the Third Reich— Communists, Freemasons, Catholics, Roma, Slavs and dissidents. And what is not widely known is that there were two purposes for the theft of books. The obvious reason is that ancient texts, manuscripts, first editions and complete collections of serialised books are valuable both from a monetary point of view and for their historical and cultural importance. The less obvious reason is that the Nazis had a more malevolent purpose: the systematic extinction of anything that was in opposition to their ideology so that they could rewrite history and culture according to their own warped beliefs.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/01/14/the-book-thieves-by-anders-rydell/

Both a look back at the mass looting of personal and organizational libraries carried out by the Nazis before and during World War II, and an examination of the ongoing efforts at various libraries to determine the origins of looted books and attempt to restore them to their owners or their heirs. A bit plodding, but a very interesting story tackling an undercovered aspect of the Nazi lootings.½

The Book Thieves: Nazi Looting… - Rydell/Koch
3 stars

This was a very difficult book to read for both its content and its structure. It’s possible that a poor translation may be part of the problem. Without doubt the book was desperately in need of editing. The author was determined to describe the mind numbing scope of the of the Nazi’s systematic looting of Europe’s libraries. This task was more than enough to fill several books, but in addition, in each of many looted locations, he also described the personalities and criminal acts of the Germans in command, the names and motivations of those who collaborated, the depth of human atrocities committed, and many more important details. I respect the need to record this history, but the story of the books and the possibility of restoration got lost in the repetitious detail.

As much as I was frustrated with the organization of this book, the content was compelling, and very depressing. Rydell hammered one fact above all others, most of the looted libraries were destroyed or dispersed irretrievably. Collections looted by the Nazis were stolen again at the end of the war. Much was taken to the Soviet Union as trophy plunder. A large number of books and documents are now in the United States Library of Congress, the legal rationale for the acquisition is unclear. Scattered, rare books from well known collections can be found in prestigious libraries all over the world with little clear provenance for their acquisition. Most heartbreaking collections of books from communities whose entire populations were exterminated.

I would have liked more information about current efforts of restoration. Some books are being cataloged,digitized, and entered into a searchable database. It’s a sisyphean task with only a small chance of success. The last chapter of this book tells about one success. The author is able to return a single book to the granddaughter of a gas chamber victim. Just one book among many. I won’t remember the authors detailed accounting of repeated atrocities and the unending cultural destruction. I’ll remember the story of that one book.

A new angle on an oft-reported story. There are other books that look at the masses of artworks stolen by the Nazi regime and its allies, but this book focuses on the millions upon millions of books stolen by the Nazi regime. The rationales (such as they were) behind these thefts, the process by which the thefts were carried out, attempts by the victims to evade the fate, and the occasionally tragic results of missing and destroyed books are all discussed. The only reason I don't give this book full marks is because, in spots, information is repeated unnecessarily, indicating a slight bit of sloppiness in either translation or editing. In some respects, a depressing book (especially if you are a book lover), but one that should be read.½

I read this book in 2 phases with about a year off in between because the story is so sad, so dramatic, and so devastating the destruction that humans perpetrate and perpetuate against one another. Hitler's solution to the Jewish question was to kill off millions of people and destroy their culture - one way of so doing was to loot their libraries, confiscate and destroy millions and millions of books. The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance, takes you across Europe and Russia to some of the locations that major libraries were located at and tells the stories of those libraries and of the effort to restore books stolen by the Nazi regime and then also by the Stalin regime to their rightful owners. Heart-breaking and vital to understand what happened in 1939 -
1945.

People will prose lovingly about their favorite book, but it seems pale in comparison to how a common practically valueless book can be the only tangible memory of a family nearly exterminated by the Nazis during World War II. Authors written many books and the movie “Monument Men” made about the return of looted art to owners or heirs, but the theft of millions of books has gone unnoticed until now.

This well researched book reaches beyond the pictures of massive book burnings to the hoarding of volumes seized for the Nazi elitists and for general distribution to favored libraries.

Librarians use Nazi meticulous records, bookplates and acquisition records to return stolen books found within their collection to their owners or in most cases their heirs. The author researches which libraries and private collections were confiscated and what most likely happened to the books, manuscripts and related material. In some cases identify marks are not enough to trace the previous owner. In other cases, the libraries refuse to recognize how the material was acquired.

THE BOOK THIEVES:
The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance
Anders Rydell

MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PUBLISHER PENGUIN GROUP Viking
PUBLISHED February 7, 2017

SUMMARY
THE BOOK THIEVES is much more than the story of the Nazi pillaging of Europe's libraries. Anders Rydell explores the evolution of the Nazi ideology and the men behind the destruction of the literary culture of the Third Reich's "internal enemies". Rydell explores how and why the German mandate shifted from destruction to the confiscation of valuable books for the purpose of ideological research and evaluation.

"What is more frightening, a totalitarian regimes destruction of knowledge or it's hankering for it?"

THE BOOK THIEVES gives us a glimpse into some of the treasures of the greatest library collections of Poland, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Greece. By The end of the war millions upon millions of books had been destroyed or confiscated. Trains overflowing with crates of books from all over Europe were transported to Germany. And only a short time later these books were appropriated by the Soviet Trophy Brigades. The looted library collections were repeatedly sorted, divided, and scattered, never to be reassembled again.

Rydell shares the many challenges of library reclamation and restitution. He tells us some of the unique deals and exchanges that have been brokered by various countries to get back even small segments of their collections. Rydell personally visits many of the places where books are being catalogued, and he introduces us to the people who attempt to find the descendants of these orphaned books. Rydell even plays a part in the return of a small green book which had been plundered from a family apartment in Berlin.

REVIEW
I loved THE BOOK THIEVES, but it broke my heart. It is the story of lost intellect and memories. You may think you know what happened, but Rydell makes it real. The book is about the treasures that were lost between 1933 and 1945. As you read you can almost feel the half-inch bullet hole in the top left corner of the small light-brown leather-bound book, or smell the millions of damp and rotting books found in a church attic in 1990.

THE BOOK THIEVES gives us an understanding of the number of books that were destroyed, stolen and lost and it will knock you off your feet. THE BOOK THIEVES gives us an understanding of the plans for the confiscated books and it will scare you. THE BOOK THIEVES gives us an understanding of the politics behind the reclamation and it will make you mad.

The breadth of background that this book covers is very impressive and enlightening. The book contains over 400 footnotes. It appears to be well documented by Rydell's interviews, his research and his personal visits.

Fans of the Monuments Men would love this book. This book should be read by anyone with a passion for books, or for books about books.

"But it was not solely a war of physical extermination, it was also a battle for memory and history."

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Viking and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of The Book Thieves in exchange for an honest review.

"A human being can endure hunger, poverty, and pain, but she cannot endure isolation. Then, more than ever, the need for books and reading is at its greatest."

While the subtitle of this book includes "the race to return a literary inheritance," the emphasis here is not a Monuments Men-esque hunt for lost artifacts, but actually an in-depth chronicling of Nazi era looting and systematic destruction of literary materials. Taking this into account, Rydell's detailed exploration of this era of history may not be the romanticized adventure that some readers are anticipating, but his storytelling is stunning nonetheless.

The looting of personal and public libraries is a more subtle crime against humanity than art pillaging, as it lacks the flash of stolen multi-million dollar paintings and artworks. And yet, robbing a society of their literature, regardless of its monetary value, is a way of systematically destroying a culture. In addition to huge swaths of unique populations being eviscerated, their history was often also successfully wiped off the map. And, unlike with valuable art, the books of the general population lack distinguishable provenance, making their return nearly impossible.

Rydell visits crimes against Jewish populations in areas I was previously unfamiliar with, such as Greece, where a Jewish community once thrived but now, due to the actions of the Nazis and the majority Greek population, now numbers only a few hundred. He travels Europe and comments briefly on how successful particular communities have been at recovering their literary heritage. The findings are often dismal. A majority of the materials that were not outright destroyed were transported to collection depots to aid in the Nazi "research" effort on finding a solution to "the Jewish question." While it may seem fortunate that these particular items were salvaged, their origins often remains a mystery. The books have commonly been absorbed by libraries and other collections where the librarians and officials are unable, or periodically unwilling, to locate their origins.

Images of communities sobbing and pleading as their libraries and religious texts are burned and pulped are mournful and haunting, but mixed with the horror and devastation are pockets of heroism by communities and individuals who sacrificed literally everything to preserve a trace of their history for the future. Rydell's chronicle in The Book Thieves is fascinating, heartrending, and palpably well-researched.

Like most familiar with the narrative of the Second World War, I knew that the Nazis had gone on the warpath through Europe, plundering and rounding up Jews to be sent to concentration camps. I also knew about the book burnings they sponsored in their war against all ideologies but their own. I did not know - or realize - that among the plunder they collected were valuable books or that the Nazis made an effort to collect in a special library Jewish texts - for the express purpose of preserving those texts in order to prove how incorrect Judaism was. All of which made for fascinating reading - this book is definitely for WWII history buffs and those who enjoy books about books.

A NON-FICTION BOOK TRACING SOME OF THE LITERATURE AND ART THAT WAS STOLEN FROM JEWS DURING WWII AND IS NOW BEING RESTORED TO FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO WERE THE ORIGINAL OWNERS.

Rydell describes in engaging detail the massive displacement of Europe's book collections by the Nazis--the who, the why, and the where. Unlike the attention given to dramatic repatriation of stolen art treasures, the fate of books, many of which are worth less than the postage to return them to identified heirs, receives less notice. Still, it is vitally important to remind ourselves why these books matter.

Though many were destroyed, "a greater, immeasurable destruction took place a consequence of dispersal. Even if some scattered books still exist on the shelves of other libraries here and there, they have lost their context. They were a part of libraries that had a value in their own right--collections in which the parts became a greater whole.... The books also said something about the people who owned and treasured them: what they read and what they thought and what they dreamed.... Each collection in its own right took form in a unique culture, a depiction of its creator's world, which was lost when the library was broken up. The books are fragments of a library, of a world that once existed."

The books themselves were often not unique, and had little economic value. But it was their participation in a collection that transformed them into a reflection of its users, who in turn left their mark on the library. The destruction of the libraries, even if the books still exist, signals the dissolution of that record of the lives that formed the collection. The loss is catastrophic. This book performs a great service to remind us of this fact.

Well researched but dry.

The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe’s Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Anders Rydell (translated by Henning Koch) is a non-fiction book which tells of the efforts of the Nazis to ransack European libraries, bookshops and private collections.

The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe’s Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Anders Rydell (translated by Henning Koch) is a fascinating look at another aspect of the Nazi killing machine, this time trying to murder culture and thought. Even more sinister, the Nazis used those stolen books to wage a war on history and even literature itself.

The author did a great job investigating the stories of looting and, eventually, the impossible task of trying to find the original owners of the books. For at least one person, a worthless book (money wise) was the only thing left from the home he was forced to leave, after many years he was touched to receive some sort of childhood memory.

This is a two part story, the first one, as the name of the book suggests, is the story of the Nazis trying to control people’s beliefs via literature, punishment and spectacles of burning books symbolizing “wrong” ideology. The second part is the painstaking cataloging of millions of books, returning what can be returned (through notes, plates and other identifying marks).

The author also gives the history of some of Europe’s most famous libraries. This book is a fascinating and comprehensive account of the subject and an excellent addition to any World War II scholarship collection.

I got this book for free in exchange for a review

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit my bookish blog at http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

This is a compelling narrative of the National Socialist Party under Hitler devastating plunder and destruction of Jewish ( and other ) libraries both individual, institutional in an attempt to wipe out and reformat more than 400 years of Jewish culture and identity. Hitler’s teams went throughout Europe and Greece, gathered up all they could find and shipped them to various locations for reference and cataloguing. Thousands were lost or destroyed, often by neglect. The attempt to return the books, papers and sacred documents continues to this day but is practically hopeless. Soviet Russia did the same kind of thievery after WWII but less systematically. This book should be on everyone’s shelf to be read and reminded of what a few can do to destroy to the intellectual heritage under the cover of a national ideology that purports to tell the truth. This is a very sobering account of intellectual dishonesty and very relevant in this era of “fake news”.

I was given an electronic copy in return for an honest review.

The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Anders Rydell, Henning Koch (Translator) is a very highly recommended well researched account of the Nazis' systematic pillaging of Europe's libraries and the librarians that are now working to return the books to their rightful owners or heirs. This is a well-written, fascinating look at crimes of the past and how some people are working to rectify them. Rydell visited many of the libraries that are still in the process of sorting through the stolen books.

The Book Thieves is a story of the looting and dispersal, as well as the burning and destruction, of of thousands of libraries and millions of individual books during WWII. As the description of The Book Thieves says: "In this secret war, the libraries of Jews, Communists, Liberal politicians, LGBT activists, Catholics, Freemasons, and many other opposition groups were appropriated for Nazi research, and used as an intellectual weapon against their owners. But when the war was over, most of the books were never returned. Instead many found their way into the public library system, where they remain to this day."

Libraries that were built up over generations helped form "the cultural, linguistic, and identity-defining heart of communities, families, and individuals. Libraries that were irreplaceable in their own right - a reflection of the people and societies that once created and nurtured them." When these collections were stolen, and dispersed or burned, it was stealing the cultural identity of families and groups. "Robbing people of words and narrative is a way of imprisoning them. Books are rarely unique in the same way as works of art, but they have a value that so many more people can understand. In our time, the book has retained a symbolic value that is almost spiritual. Discarding books is still considered sacrilegious. The burning of books is one of the strongest symbolic actions there is, correlating with cultural destruction. While mainly identified with the Nazi book pyres of 1933, the symbolic destruction of literature is as old as the book itself."

The Nazis understood that to control people and their beliefs, they needed to control the literature. Mind control, the quest for a hive-mind mentality, and punishing those who don't comply is nothing new. In contrast, there were people who risked their lives to try and save parts of their literary inheritance. They understood that "the theft of their literary culture was a way of robbing them of their history, their humanity, and, in the final analysis, any possibility of remembrance." These people hid old manuscripts, important religious works, and even diaries.

While this is about the history of the Nazis' looting, burning, and control of millions of books, it is also a hopeful account about the people who are currently trying to catalogue the vast number of these stolen books and find a way to return those they can (because of identifying marks, plates, notes, names, etc.) to their original owners. It is a daunting task, especially since over the years it is clear that librarians have cut out identifying pages or deface marks identifying original owners. It was heartening to see that Google is helping this effort - when people are searching for ancestors, they can come across information about their family's confiscated books. Even though many of the books have little monetary value, the personal value can be priceless.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House/Viking.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1899692930
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/on2/3/17