Dear Collegues,
may I use the opportunity to point to the bibliographical list of books
and articles regarding the intriguing subject of Nazi theft and
restitution, based on our collection. This was done on the occasion of
the establishment of the infamous Nazi institute responsible for the
Nazi confiscation in Europe, opened 75 years ago in Frankfurt am main
(Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage).
See: http://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/judaica/raubgut.html
Unfortunately the text is in German, but many books and articles are in
English as well
Chag Sameach from the other side of the ocean
Rachel Heuberger
Am 14.04.2016 um 16:20 schrieb Michelle Chesner:
I believe my review of the book, with specific (selected) examples,
was included in the most recent News and Reviews. I'll copy it here
as well. Readers can make their own judgements; I simply advise
reading carefully and critically.
Glickman, Mark. /Stolen Words: The Nazi Plunder of Jewish Books/.
Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2016. 327 pp. ISBN:
9870827612082 $29.95
The story of the Nazi confiscation of Jewish books and the ongoing
story of efforts to restore them to their owners is an extraordinary
one, and in recent years, many books have emerged to detail various
aspects of this history. Mark Glickman’s /Stolen Words/ attempts to
do that, but is unfortunately so error-ridden that it is difficult to
separate fact from fiction.
The book would greatly have benefited from both copy editing and peer
review, as instances of blatant errors, both typographical and
factual, abound. As a small sample: In his multi-chapter introduction
to the work, which attempts to summarize a history of Jewish printing,
Glickman writes that the first Hebrew book was printed in 1475,
notwithstanding the great work of Moses Marx and Adri Offenberg, which
conclusively prove the Roman imprints to have been printed between
1469-1472 (the first /dated/ book was printed in 1475, but the
distinction is important). More concerning was Glickman’s
identification of famed Roman printers Sweynheyn and Pannatz as German
Jews, when they most certainly were not. In a footnote, Glickman cites
“50,000 editions of Jewish incunabula,” when surely he meant to write
“copies.” The many errors that I encountered throughout the book shed
doubt on the accuracy of the entire work.
For someone very interested in this topic, the most interesting point
of the book would have been the bibliography, where one could at least
find further materials to read on the subject, but unfortunately there
is none.
The book essentially summarizes some of the major works on the
subject, including Dana Herman’s dissertation, /Hashavat Avedah: A
History of Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc./; / Holocaust and the
Book: Destruction and Preservation /(ed. Jonathan A. Rose); David
Fishman’s /Embers Plucked from the Fire: The Rescue of Jewish Cultural
Treasures in Vilna; /Robert M. Edsel’s/The Monuments Men: Allied
Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
/(although there’s a typo in his citation for this book); and others.
It would behoove an interested reader to pick up some of the books
listed above rather than this one in order to obtain a more accurate
view of the incredible story of the “robbery and restitution” of
Jewish books during and after World War II.
On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 10:15 AM, Daniel Kestenbaum
<kestenb...@aol.com <mailto:kestenb...@aol.com>> wrote:
What makes you say that?
Details please
Regards
Daniel Kestenbaum
Kestenbaum & Company
Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Fine Art
242 West 30th Street
New York, NY 10001
Tel: (212) 366-1197 <tel:%28212%29%20366-1197>
Forthcoming Auction:
Fine Judaica
Spring, 2016
For further details see our website:
www.Kestenbaum.ne <http://estenbaum.ne>t
On Apr 14, 2016, at 10:05 AM, Michelle Chesner <michm...@gmail.com
<mailto:michm...@gmail.com>> wrote:
For people interested in this book, I would just like to note
that there are many, many factual errors within it, and one
should be cautious before recommending it for research use.
Michelle Chesner
Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies
Columbia University
On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 3:18 PM, Brener, Ann <abre...@loc.gov
<mailto:abre...@loc.gov>> wrote:
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