Restitutions

We use the Ancestry® genealogical database to search for family history documents and records.

We also use the Central Database of Holocaust Victims' Names for our research.

Local historians from the “'Stolpersteine”' project support us in the search for owners.

On 18 May 2026, the SLUB Dresden and Burgstädt Municipal Library returned three books to IG Metall in Chemnitz.

The SLUB Dresden and four other German cultural institutions handed over 221 books to the descendants of the famous French lawyer, journalist and politician Henry Torrès (1891-1966) in Paris on 26 June 2025. The books had belonged to Torrès or one of his two wives. They could be attributed to them based on the dedications they contained.

At the beginning of 2025, 14 German libraries and archives returned a total of 41 books belonging to the Austrian writer Raoul Fernand Jellinek-Mercedes (1888 Algiers-1939 Baden near Vienna) in a joint restitution coordinated by the German National Library. Jellinek-Mercedes was persecuted after the 'annexation' of Austria in March 1938 because of his Jewish origins. Under the pressure of repression, he took his own life in February 1939.

Thanks to intensive research by the provenance team at the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, 23 autographs belonging to Beno Kaufmann have also been identified in the SLUB Dresden collection. Beno Kaufmann was persecuted during the Nazi era due to his Jewish origins and was murdered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942. The SLUB Dresden was able to purchase the autographs in 2023. Under the pressure of repression, he took his own life in February 1939.

A book owned by the Saxonia-Lode Chemnitz has been identified in the SLUB collection. It was looted by the National Socialists in 1937/1938 and returned in 2020. The lodge belonged to the Jewish order B'nai B'rith (U.O.B.B.) until it was banned.

A book owned by the Germania-Loge Halle was identified in the SLUB's holdings. It was looted by the National Socialists in 1937/1938 and returned in 2020. The lodge belonged to the Jewish order B'nai B'rith (U.O.B.B.) until it was banned.

Three books belonging to the Kant-Loge Königsberg were identified in the SLUB's holdings. They were looted by the National Socialists in 1937/1938 and returned in 2020. The lodge belonged to the Jewish order B'nai B'rith (U.O.B.B.) until it was banned.

A book owned by the Saar-Loge Saarbrücken has been identified in the SLUB collection. It was looted by the National Socialists in 1937/1938 and returned in 2020. The lodge belonged to the Jewish order B'nai B'rith (U.O.B.B.) until it was banned.

The staff of the Nazi-looted property research project identified a book owned by Růžena Rosalie Kürschnerova, who was persecuted by the National Socialists as a Jew and murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. The SLUB returned the book to the community of heirs of Růžena Rosalie Kürschnerova in January 2022.

The staff of the Manuscripts, Old Prints and Regional Studies Department and the Nazi-looted property project were able to identify a book owned by Susanne Türck. Susanne Türck was persecuted as a Jew and emigrated to Great Britain in 1933. The SLUB returned the volume to the heiress in mid-June 2022.

The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the SLUB Dresden have restituted a total of five books from their collections to the descendants of the French journalist and politician Georges Mandel. The books were handed over by the French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in Paris on 15 July 2022.

Bank director Alfred Brod and his family were persecuted as Jews, deported to the Lodž concentration camp and murdered there. In summer 2022, the SLUB restituted the book to his heirs, who decided to keep it as a gift in the library's collection.

Two books with the provenance of Otto and Thea Brod were identified in the holdings of the Saxon State Library. Together with another copy, which was found in the library of the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien in Heidelberg, they were sent to the heirs by post in autumn 2022. Unfortunately, the parcel is considered lost.

As part of the Nazi-looted property project, we were able to identify books belonging to the lawyer Heinrich Klang. Heinrich Klang was persecuted as a Jew after the 'annexation” of Austria in 1938 and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. He survived the Holocaust. In 2022, we were able to restitute twelve volumes to his heirs.

A book belonging to the merchant Gustav Langendorf has been identified in the SLUB collection. Langendorf, who came from Prague, was persecuted as a Jew, deported via Theresienstadt concentration camp to Treblinka concentration camp in 1942 and murdered there. In 2021, the SLUB, together with the library of the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg, returned a total of three books to his heirs.

In February 2020, the SLUB restituted two books owned by the German-Czech writer Ilse Weber, née Herlinger, to her son and his family. Based on handwritten entries, the previous owner was identified and the two volumes were determined to be cultural assets subject to Nazi persecution.

In 2020, the SLUB Dresden and the University Library of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg jointly returned three books to the heirs of the Dutch philosopher, humanist and freethinker Leo Polak. These books had been looted by the National Socialists in 1941.

Six books owned by Württemberg freethinkers' and monists' associations were identified as part of the Nazi looted property project. The volumes had been expropriated by the National Socialists in 1933 and were returned to the association Die Humanisten Baden-Württemberg K.d.ö.R. in 2020.

In 2020, the SLUB was able to return a book owned by Hugo Simonstein and Gertrud Prager to their descendants. Due to the persecution and murder of Gertrud Prager as a Jew by the Nazi regime, the book was categorised as Nazi looted property.

Several hundred thousand books were looted from the Austrian Chambers of Labour by the National Socialists in 1938. A volume from the library of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Labour was found in the SLUB's collection by the staff of our Nazi-looted property project. It was returned in 2020.

In 1993, the SLUB acquired a book with an ownership stamp from the Apologetische Centrale in Berlin. It had been confiscated there by the National Socialists in 1938. In 2020, it was returned to the Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung as the legal successor to the Apologetische Centrale.

At the beginning of the National Socialist dictatorship in 1933, all freethought associations in Germany were banned and their assets expropriated. This also affected the Verband für Freidenkertum und Feuerbestattung. A book owned by the association was identified in the SLUB collection and returned in 2020.

Six books belonging to lodges of the Jewish order B'nai B'rith (U.O.B.B.) were found in the SLUB's collection by the staff of our Nazi-looted property project. They had been looted by the National Socialists in 1937 and 1938 and were returned in 2020.

Several hundred thousand books were looted from the library of the Vienna Chamber of Labour by the National Socialists in 1938. The staff of our Nazi-looted property project found ten volumes in the SLUB's collection. They were returned in 2020.

Between 1963 and 1996, the SLUB acquired eight books belonging to the former Austrian Metalworkers' Association. These had been looted in 1938 and taken to Germany. In 2020, the volumes were returned to the PRO-GE trade union as the successor to the metalworkers' association.

A book owned by the Prague doctor Ernst Kalmus was identified in the SLUB collection. After the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia by the National Socialists in March 1939, the members of the Kalmus family were persecuted as Jews. Ernst Kalmus' heirs decided to donate the book to the SLUB.

The staff of our Nazi-looted property project were able to identify a book belonging to the social democrat Hermann Ahlfeld. Hermann Ahlfeld fled to France in 1933 as a politically persecuted person, where he survived the Nazi dictatorship in hiding. In 2020, the SLUB returned the book to his heirs.

The family of legal scholar Otto Bondy were persecuted as Jews after the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939. In the Nazi looted property project, a book belonging to Bondy was identified and restituted to his heirs. The community of heirs decided to leave the book on loan to the SLUB.

A book with traces of ownership by Max Sachs was identified in the Nazi-looted property project and was restituted to his heirs in 2020. The heirs decided to leave the volume as a deposit in the SLUB collection.

In 2019, the staff of the SLUB's Nazi-looted property project returned 23 books to the Jesuit order. These had been confiscated by the Secret State Police (Gestapo) at the HohenEichen retreat centre in Dresden-Hosterwitz and handed over to the Saxon State Library in 1942.

In 2018, the SLUB handed over a book originally owned by the Jewish linguist and translator Victor Armhaus (1859-1942) to Leipzig University Library (UB Leipzig). At the request of his heirs, all books owned by Victor Armhaus will be brought together there.

In the Nazi-looted property project, a copy of Georg Weber's Weltgeschichte was clearly assigned to its previous owner Max Geyer (1918-1997). In 2018, the artist Gunter Demnig laid four Stolpersteine in Dresden in memory of the Jewish Geyer family. As part of this ceremony, the SLUB was able to return the book to the family.

In 1993, the SLUB purchased a book with Hedwig Hesse's bookplate from the Berlin City Library (BStB), which was identified as a Nazi loot due to the Hesse family's history of persecution. In 2018, the SLUB was able to return a total of three books to Hedwig Hesse's great-granddaughter in a joint restitution with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

In 2018, a book was returned to the grandson of Irene Kirschstein, whose family was persecuted during the Nazi era. At the end of the war in 1945, the book was part of the private library of a garden centre owner from Brockwitz. When he was expropriated because of his close ties to the National Socialist regime, parts of his book collection ended up in the Saxon State Library.

As part of the Nazi-looted property project at the SLUB, three books from the library of the Hamburg Jewish Religious Association were identified and restituted in 2018. This ends an odyssey for the works that began on 9/10 November 1938 with their confiscation by the National Socialists.

In 2013, 159 books were returned to the heirs of Sigmund Waldes (born 1877 in Prague, died 1961 in Maspeth/Long Island - USA). The books' journey began in 1938, when the collection of 19th and 20th century bibliophile prints was confiscated in Dresden and sold to the Saxon State Library via an intermediary in 1941.

In 1991, the SLUB returned 295 books to the heirs of the banker Victor Klemperer Edler von Klemenau (not related to or identical with the linguist and author of the LTI Victor Klemperer). These included numerous incunabula that had been confiscated in December 1938.