Historical Context: Nazi Ideology and World War II
By the mid-1930s, Nazi discrimination, particularly against German Jews, had escalated. Under the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935, Jews were denied citizenship and banned from marrying someone of the Aryan race. These laws, among others that followed, legalized persecution and sanctioned other antisemitic acts, including the theft and destruction of Jewish property (3).
The first book burnings occurred on May 10, 1933. University student groups and Nazi officials across Germany hosted public bonfires to destroy works of “un-German” ideas. In the years to come, Nazis confiscated countless Jewish books, films, religious artifacts, art, and music from private homes, public museums, Jewish organizations, and universities. The purpose behind the plunder was not merely to destroy. In 1936, the Forschungsabteilung Judenfrage (Research Department for the Jewish Question) was formed. By collecting, dissecting, and manipulating the beliefs, literature, and culture of their enemies, researchers studying “the Jewish Question” aimed to legitimize the regime’s racist policies (4).
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and World War II began. The world’s deadliest military conflict involved more than thirty countries and lasted for six years until the Allied Powers defeated Germany and Japan, leading to the end of the war on September 2, 1945. By then the Nazis had murdered upwards of six million Jews. In the aftermath, the Allies organized efforts to find looted materials (5). These efforts continue today, as many museums and libraries strive to recover displaced books and other cultural heritage items. The Jewish Museum in Prague (JMP), which will be discussed in the next few sections, is one such example.
