**Lost Art-Report:** To the Found-Object Reports of the institution (https://www.lostart.de/de/Fund/540694)<br>
**Contact person:** Dr. Johannes Mangei (mangei@hab.de); Christine Rüth (rueth@hab.de)<br>
**Project type:** Long-term project to systematically investigate collection holdings<br>
**Funding duration:** October 2020 to November 2022<br>
**Author of the research data:** Christine Rüth<br>
**Contributors:** Monika Biel, Antonia Reck<br>
<br>
The Herzog August Bibliothek is an independent research institute specializing in the study of European cultural history in the medieval and early modern period. It holds important collections of manuscripts and early printed books as well as a comprehensive stock of modern research literature. In numerous digitization, cataloging, and research projects, the holdings are explored and made accessible to the public.<br>
Amongst the various holdings of the Herzog August Bibliothek, cases of Nazis-looted property have come to light in isolated instances in the past. The project just completed took a structured approach while focusing on one aspect in particular – the antiquarian acquisitions that, to date, had not been researched extensively. Two large groups of books, the vast majority of which were acquired from antiquarian bookshops and auctions ‒ often at a time when so-called “redistributed loot” was still thought to be of little importance nationally and internationally – were examined. As a result, the project aimed to determine how many of the objects that were confiscated (or sold) because of Nazi persecution were contained in these collections and through which routes they might have reached the Herzog August Bibliothek.<br>
Therefore, the project systematically recorded and investigated the provenance of approximately 29,000 volumes that had been added either as individual acquisitions or as part of closed collections of older literature to the library’s holdings since 1969. Of this number, 4,846 volumes (16.7%) proved to be significant for the project’s research question; in contrast, 24,154 volumes (83.3%) lacked relevant provenance markings. In-depth research was carried out on 417 objects (1.4%), which to date has been documented in 37 individual case files. These individual case files are published here as research data. 35 objects from 29 provenances (0.1%) were identified as Nazi-looted property or presumed Nazi-looted property. In five cases with a total of eight volumes, the project’s research led to currently ongoing or already completed restitutions or to other just and fair solutions as outlined by the Washington Principles. Further efforts at restitution are to follow.<br>
The Herzog August Bibliothek is an independent research institute specializing in the study of European cultural history in the medieval and early modern period. It holds important collections of manuscripts and early printed books as well as a comprehensive stock of modern research literature. In numerous digitization, cataloging, and research projects, the holdings are explored and made accessible to the public.<br><br>
Amongst the various holdings of the Herzog August Bibliothek, cases of Nazis-looted property have come to light in isolated instances in the past. The project just completed took a structured approach while focusing on one aspect in particular – the antiquarian acquisitions that, to date, had not been researched extensively. Two large groups of books, the vast majority of which were acquired from antiquarian bookshops and auctions ‒ often at a time when so-called “redistributed loot” was still thought to be of little importance nationally and internationally – were examined. As a result, the project aimed to determine how many of the objects that were confiscated (or sold) because of Nazi persecution were contained in these collections and through which routes they might have reached the Herzog August Bibliothek.<br><br>
Therefore, the project systematically recorded and investigated the provenance of approximately 29,000 volumes that had been added either as individual acquisitions or as part of closed collections of older literature to the library’s holdings since 1969. Of this number, 4,846 volumes (16.7%) proved to be significant for the project’s research question; in contrast, 24,154 volumes (83.3%) lacked relevant provenance markings. In-depth research was carried out on 417 objects (1.4%), which to date has been documented in 37 individual case files. These individual case files are published here as research data. 35 objects from 29 provenances (0.1%) were identified as Nazi-looted property or presumed Nazi-looted property. In five cases with a total of eight volumes, the project’s research led to currently ongoing or already completed restitutions or to other just and fair solutions as outlined by the Washington Principles. Further efforts at restitution are to follow.<br><br>
Research findings have been recorded in the library catalog of the Herzog August Bibliothek and the union catalog K10plus. Wherever possible, the provenance indexing was enhanced with identifiers from the German Integrated Authority File (Gemeinsame Normdatei, GND) and formally standardized through the use of a controlled vocabulary (Thesaurus der Provenienzbegriffe, T-PRO). Further information and images have been made available in the ProvenienzWiki hosted by the GBV Common Library Network. Objects identified as Nazi-looted property or suspected Nazi-looted property were reported to the Lost Art Database by the end of the project.<br>
