Winner, 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 memoire-a "mortuary of books," as the later renowned historian Lucy Dawidowicz called it-with 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 individuals who, after the war, sought to recover this looted cultural property and return the millions of treasured objects to their rightful owners. Some of the most outstanding Jewish intellectuals of the twentieth century, including Dawidowicz, Hannah Arendt, Salo W. Baron, and Gershom Scholem, were involved in this herculean effort. This led to the creation of Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Inc., an international body that acted as the Jewish trustee for heirless property in the American Zone and transferred hundreds of thousands of objects from the Depot to the new centers of Jewish life after the Holocaust.
The commitment of these individuals to the restitution of cultural property revealed the importance of cultural objects as symbols of the enduring legacy of those who could not be saved. It also fostered Jewish culture and scholarly life in the postwar world.

About the Author
Elisabeth Gallas is chief research associate at the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture-Simon Dubnow in Leipzig, Germany.

Reviews
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 *



Book Information
ISBN 9781479833955
Author Elisabeth Gallas
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint New York University Press
Publisher New York University Press
Weight(grams) 771g