Provenance Research :

Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen (Tübingen University Library

Library
Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen (Tübingen University Library)

Research into Nazi-confiscated cultural property in the library'scollection
In 1999 research by a local journalist brought to attention the presence in the Tübingen University Library of the confiscated library of ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Cäsar Hirsch (1885-1940). Dr. Cäsar Hirsch fled from Stuttgart to Switzerland with his family in 1933. His specialist library on otorhinolaryngology was confiscated by the Gestapo and given to the Tübingen University Library in 1938 on loan. In 1941 the Library negotiated to pay the Gestapo a token sum to become the legal owner of the collection, which consisted of 1,100 magazines and periodicals and 8,000 single issues and dissertations, some dating back to the early 19th century. The case was considered an example of the Finance Office being able to profit from the seizure of Jewish owned property. Following the journalist's identification of Dr Hirsch's heir in the USA in 1999, the library was returned in 2001 and is now part of the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Research into cultural property missing from the library
No information is available.

Contact Details
Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen
Wilhelmstr. 7
72074 Tübingen
Tel: +49 (0) 7071 29 0
Fax: + 49 (0) 707129-5990
Email: registratur@verwaltung.uni-tuebingen.de
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/ub/ in German and English

Source
Peter-Michael Berger, 'Die Rückgabe der Bibliothek von Cäsar Hirsch', in Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste (ed.), Beiträge öffentlicher Einrichtungen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Umgang mit Kulturgütern aus ehemaligem jüdischen Besitz (Magdeburg: Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, 2001), 294-299. In German, summary in English

<http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/ub/> accessed 18 December 2002

Hans Joachim Lang, 'Ein Geschenk der Gestapo' TAZ , 20 June 2001, 6
<http://www.ub.uni-marburg.de/allg/aktiv/taz.pdf>, accessed 18 December 2002