Public libraries in National Socialist Germany (1933–1945)

Part 2: The creation of National Socialist German people’s libraries (Volksbücherei)

Abstract

The theoretical foundations of the National Socialist public library system had already begun to be laid in 1932: in the spirit of Hitlerist ideals, the library was not given a role in the enrichment of culture. The main aim is education, the forging of national unity. In library networks, the ‘Führer Principle’ replaces collegial relations. After the abolition of provincial differences (Gleichschaltung everywhere), a unified national management system begins to consolidate libraries. Those who were ‘unsuitable’ for political or racial reasons were summarily removed, and the stock was purged by means of recurrent blacklist­ing. Then comes network development (nearly 7,000 libraries, mainly in villages, were created or renovat­ed within the period of 1933–1939), national stand­ardisation and the introduction of the open shelf.

War changed everything from book publishing to weekdays of libraries. The most important thing be­came to provide readings to an army of around ten million people.

Meanwhile the German army, led by SS troops, car­ried out large-scale operations to destroy cultural goods, including libraries, especially in Soviet territo­ries. The bombing of the Allied powers, on the other hand, despite all the precautions, caused enormous damage to the material in the city library collections. Therefore, the ‘total war’ became the greatest disas­ter in German history.