Description
Book SynopsisWinner, 2020 JDC-Herbert Katzki Award for Writing Based on Archival Material, given by the Jewish Book Council
The astonishing story of the efforts of scholars and activists to rescue Jewish cultural treasures after the Holocaust
In March 1946 the American Military Government for Germany established the Offenbach Archival Depot near Frankfurt to store, identify, and restore the huge quantities of Nazi-looted books, archival material, and ritual objects that Army members had found hidden in German caches. These items bore testimony to the cultural genocide that accompanied the Nazis' systematic acts of mass murder. The depot built a short-lived lieu de memoirea mortuary of books, as the later renowned historian Lucy Dawidowicz called itwith over three million books of Jewish origin coming from nineteen different European countries awaiting restitution.
A Mortuary of Books tells the miraculous story of the many Jewish organizations and indivi
Trade Review
In meticulous detail, drawing on archival sources, memoirs, correspondence, and histories, Gallas . . . makes an impressive book debut with a comprehensive history of efforts to recover, identify, and restore artifacts of Jewish culture and scholarship. . . . A fresh, significant contribution to Jewish history. * STARRED Kirkus Review *
In this remarkable tale of a little-studied aspect of the Holocaust, Gallas reckons with what the attempted Nazi erasure of Jewish intellectual and cultural heritage means for a people whose identity is tied to a tradition of books and learning... A serious work of Jewish studies scholarship that is important and accessible for anyone interested in the history of the book or postwar Europe. -- Library Journal Review
A Mortuary of Books is an incredible historical work that will benefit scholars in upcoming generations, partly because this is one aspect of post-Holocaust life that has not received much attention. The sheer amount of detail about the numerous Jewish organizations and officials featured is amazing. -- The Reporter
This well-researched and original monograph not only reconstructs a complex history in a multilayered and nuanced fashion, but also demonstrates the key importance of efforts in the immediate aftermath of the Nazi genocide to create new bases for Jewish culture and politics. * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *
