Adolf Hitler's private library
Adolf Hitler personally owned an extensive collection of books (not including books he bought for the German state library). Nazi politician Baldur von Schirach claimed that Hitler had about 6,000 volumes and that he had read each one. Frederick Cable Oechsner estimated the collection at 16,300 volumes.[1] No records exist to confirm the amount, as several books were destroyed by the Allies.[2]
Although contemporaries say that Hitler loved reading works by German authors,
History
The first description of Hitler's private collection was published in 1942. His private books that were kept in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin were confiscated by the Soviets and sent to Moscow. Books in Munich and Berchtesgaden (as well as Hitler's Globe from Berchtesgaden) were taken as war booty by individual U.S. soldiers. Three thousand volumes were later discovered in a Berchtesgaden salt mine, and they were taken by the United States Library of Congress. The largest volume that has been recovered is about the German colonies, with a dedication written to Hitler, encouraging the "re-acquisition of the colonies".[2] They are now in a special locked room in the Library of Congress where they can be accessed five at a time and read in the rare-book reading room.[4] Eighty books that had belonged to Hitler were identified in the basement of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.[4][5][6]
References
- ^ Oechsner, Frederick (1943). This Is The Enemy (1943). p. 79. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ a b c d Miskolczy, 2003
- ^ Ryback
- ^ Atlantic Monthly.
- New York Sun. Archived from the originalon 2008-12-29. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
- ISBN 978-1-4000-4204-3.
Further reading
- Miskolczy, Ambrus (2003). Hitler's Library. ISBN 9639241598.
- Ryback, Timothy (2008). Hitler's Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4000-4204-3.