Die "Sammlung Tanzenberg": "Ein riesiger Berg verschmutzter mit Schnüren verpackter Bücher"

As a result of provenance research at Vienna University Library (VUL) which started in 2004, it turned out that the library received looted books of dubious origin not only during the war but also afterwards. In 1949 the so called »Büchersortierungsstelle«was given the task to transfer books whose former owners could not be identified to Austrian libraries. In 1951 approximately 150,000 books were handed over by the »Büchersortierungsstelle« to VUL. This accession consisted of books from the »Dorotheum« (one of the important agencies to exploit looted properties during the Nazi period), the former »Bücherei der Polizeileitleitstelle Wien« and the library of the »Hohe Schule der NSDAP«. During the war the latter had been transferred from Berlin to the former monastery of Tanzenberg near St. Veit/Glan in Kärnten. Major parts of the collection of the »Hohe Schule« originated from the raids of Arthur Rosenberg’s »Einsatzstab« (ERR) in the German-occupied territories of Western and Eastern Europe. Declared as »herrenloses Gut« (abandoned property) these books did not evocate further questions at that time. Not until after an intervention of the »Israeltische Kultusgemeinde Wien« the material was split between VUL and the Jewish National and University Library Jerusalem (JNUL). As far as VUL is concerned, the provenance research showed that only about 10 percent of the remaining 80,000 books (the so called »Sammlung Tanzenberg«) have been catalogued and incorporated to the collection of the library. The results of the research concerning the »Tanzenberg Collection« provide a solid basis for further specific actions to support efforts to return looted books to their owners