Library

During World War II, the Nazi government looted countless books both from the collections of private individuals and from synagogues, libraries, schools, and other cultural heritage institutions. They were kept as trophies of war and sent to Nazi research institutes. Near the end of the war, the United States military established the Offenbach Archival Depot near Frankfurt am Main Germany to house looted materials. The Jewish Cultural Reconstruction (JCR) initiative was formed in the U.S. to find homes for these books. They were sent primarily to Jewish libraries and other organizations in the United States and Israel, including Brandeis.

The Brandeis Library is now working to identify and fully catalog formerly-looted books in our collections so that future researchers can have access to the history of these items. These webpages tell the story of both the JCR as a whole and the books’ history at Brandeis, as well as how we’re working with libraries and other institutions around the world with collections of Nazi-looted materials.