Six institutions under one roof

Nazi-looted cultural goods — more precisely, looted cultural goods and war booty seized through Nazi persecution — should be understood as items that the Nazi Regime took from their rightful owners for reasons of persecution in the years 1933 to 1945. (FAQ).

These books came in libraries in many different ways. In various institutions, the library holdings are checked, identified and documented for items stolen and looted by the Nazis. The aim of the work is the return (restitution) of books as well as to find a fair and equitable solution for the rightful owners or their heirs. The results are entered in the shared Looted Cultural Assets database and made searchable.

The database currently contains more than 31,000 provenances and information’s about more than 8.000 individuals. Due to our close cooperation in the investigation of individual finds, the institutions involved are adopting a new way for libraries to bring justice to their mandates. The Badische Landesbibliothek, the Foundation New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum Library, the Institute for the History of the German Jews Hamburg, the Freie Universität Berlin University Library, the Potsdam University Library, and the Berlin Central and Regional Library (partners) want to sustainably secure and develop the networking of institutions. With this basic idea of Looted Cultural Assets, suggestions for supporting our work and getting involved are welcome.