The Book Thieves ─ The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance

For readers of The Monuments Men and The Hare with Amber Eyes, the story of the Nazis' systematic pillaging of Europe's libraries, and the present-day efforts of a few heroic librarians to return the stolen books to their rightful owners.

While the world condemned the Nazi party for burning books, they were already in the middle of perpetrating an even greater literary crime. Through extensive new research that included records saved by the Mouments Men themselves—Anders Rydell tells the untold story of Nazi book theft, as he himself joins the effort to return the stolen books. As the Nazis ransacked Europe’s libraries and booshops, large and small, the vast majority of books they stole were either sold or entered into the public library system. But they had a more insidious plan for the libraries of synagogues and dissident political organizations. These collections were studied at length, their contents scoured for anything that could be distorted into evidence of the crimes the Nazis alleged that their victims were planning. Through this program, some of the most highly prized collections of Jewish and leftist cultural institutions were turned into Nazi propaganda.

Now, Rydell finds himself in the possession of one of these stolen volumes, tasked with returning it to its rightful owners. It was given to him by the small team of heroic librarians charged with the monumental task of combing through Berlin’s public libraries to identify the looted books and reunite them with the families of their original owners. For the families who lost relatives in the Holocaust, these books are often the only remaining possession they have of their relatives. As Rydell travels to return the book he was given, he shows just how much a single book can mean to those who own it.

Anders Rydell is a journalist, editor, and author of nonfiction. As the Head of Culture at a major Swedish media group, Rydell directs the coverage of arts and culture in 14 newspapers. His two books on the Nazis, The Book Theives and?The Looters,?have been translated into 16 languages. The Book Thieves?is his first work published in English.
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Henning Koch was born in Sweden but has spent most of his life in England, Spain, and Sardinia. Most recently he translated A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. He lives in Berlin with his partner and their son.