Picture books and more: the pre-mortem legacy of Rotraut Susanne Berner

In 2024, the German Museum of Books and Writing received the pre-mortem estate of Rotraut Susanne Berner (*1948). Berner is one of the most important and successful illustrators and authors of our time – she became famous above all for her children's books.

Her books are found in bookstores and children's rooms in more than forty countries. Among them are long-selling titles such as the “Wimmelbücher” and the “Karlchen” series. But her work includes not only around 150 illustrated picture books, she has also illustrated numerous poetry collections, novels, and non-fiction books. For example, Hans Magnus Enzensberger's “Der Zahlenteufel” (The Number Devil) and the poetry collection “Eines Nachts im Paradies” (One Night in Paradise) with texts by Jürg Schubiger bear Berner's unmistakable signature.

Around 5,400 original drawings

Photo: DNB, Carl Götz

Rotraut Susanne Berner's pre-mortem legacy comprises 110 portfolios and 20 boxes containing extensive collections of material, including preliminary sketches and rejected or censored illustrations, as well as manuscripts for her books. In total, the pre-mortem legacy comprises around 5,400 original drawings in various techniques, which have been added to the national cultural heritage. In addition to watercolors, colored pencils, and acrylic paints, the portfolios also contain collages, silhouettes, and flat prints.

Correspondence is also part of the pre-mortem legacy, including a correspondence with illustrator Axel Scheffler, who became world-famous for his illustrations in the classic children's book “The Gruffalo.” The collection thus also provides insights into professional practices and collaborations.

Memories of exile in Brazil: Dora Schindel's tile wall

Photo: DNB, Sylvia Asmus

The estate of exile and contemporary witness Dora Schindel has been part of the German Exile Archive since her death in 2018. Now it has been expanded to include a very special object: the tile wall that was installed outside the “Casa Görgen” in Bonn, where Dora Schindel and Hermann Görgen lived. It shows the couple's place of refuge: Brazil.
Brazil was a special place for Dora Schindel and Hermann Görgen. They were able to emigrate there in 1941 with a group of 48 endangered people, the so-called Görgen Group. Among them were Johannes Hoffmann, who later became the first prime minister of the Saarland, biologist Alfred Goldschmidt, publicist Walter Kreiser, writer Ulrich Becher, and musician Georg Wassermann. As a Jew, Schindel had to leave her homeland after the Nazis came to power. Together with Görgen, she made it possible for the group to leave.

Once to Brazil – and back

As Brazil's restrictive entry regulations favored farmers, craftsmen, and technicians, the group registered as a team of technicians. Via France, Spain, and Portugal, they reached Brazil by ship in April 1941. There, they set up the Indústrias Técnicas Ltd. factory in Juiz de Fora. Dora Schindel took over the commercial management. In 1955, she returned to West Germany and settled in Bonn, where she worked as an assistant to Hermann Görgen, who had been elected to the Bundestag. Together they founded the German-Brazilian Society in 1960. After Dora Schindel's death in 2018, the wall was taken down and is now part of her estate.

A special camera: The Goldsmith-Baum family archive in the Exile Archive

In 2024, the Exile Archive was entrusted with a special collection from a family estate: the archive of the Mac Goldsmith and Fred Baum family.
In addition to family correspondence, personal documents, and family photos, it also contains a camera.
After Mac Goldsmith was denied any professional prospects under the Nazis, the couple Mac and Ruth Goldsmith planned to emigrate shortly after their wedding in 1936 - Fred Baum, Ruth's brother, had already emigrated to the USA in 1936. The camera, a Contax III launched by Zeiss Ikon in 1936, had a double significance for the couple: it was used for taking photographs and was also a valuable item that could be easily transported. It accompanied the Goldsmiths on their escape via Switzerland and the Netherlands to Great Britain in 1937.

A successful engineer in the automotive industry

Photo: Alexander Paul Englert

The Hessian engineer Mac Goldsmith had previously enjoyed great success with his patented standardized engine parts and vehicle clutches. He had been running a design office in Frankfurt since 1925. This specialized in further developing international technical innovations in the automotive sector and adapting them for the German market. Engine parts and clutches patented by him were installed in almost all German vehicle models. He was involved in their distribution as a partner in the company “Fichtel und Sachs.” In 1934, he was also one of the founders of the company “Metallgummi.” However, he was forced to sell all his companies and holdings at well below their value. The proceeds were further reduced by special state levies.

After his escape, Mac Goldsmith was able to rebuild his company in Leicester, England. With the patents he still had, he continued to develop his innovations, which were used in Allied ships and aircraft during World War II.

New donation: 17th-century family register from Zittau

Photo: DNB, Bettina Rüdiger

In 2024, the German Museum of Books and Writing acquired a special document: a family register with entries dating from 1612 to 1635. It belonged to Theophilus Michaelis, a citizen of the town of Zittau who has not yet been identified.
Such old family registers are rare. They provide information about individuals and contemporary history. The family register contains 41 entries, mainly from Bohemian and German nobles and citizens. It also contains book illustrations: 22 painted coats of arms (gouaches) can be seen, 7 miniatures by unknown painters, and a pencil sketch for a miniature.

Research into its origins is not yet complete

The provenance of the family register can be traced back quite well to the 19th century. It came from the collection of the historian Dr. Back in Altenburg, then to the famous collection of heraldist Friedrich Warnecke, and after his death it entered the German and Swiss antiquarian and auction trade. In the mid-1950s, the family register finally came into private ownership. From there, it was donated to the German National Library.

However, it has not yet been possible to clarify the entire provenance sequence beyond doubt. In the 1920s and 1930s, Jewish antiquarians were also involved in the trade of the family register. For this reason, the donation contract includes a reservation clause. If, in the course of provenance research, a context of Nazi injustice becomes apparent, the German National Library can return the book to its rightful owners or their heirs.

The research is documented in the DNB's portal catalogue: https://d-nb.info/1341435059 and reported to the Repertorium Alborum Amicorum (RAA). The RAA is a directory of all known family registers in Germany.

Items looted by the Nazis. returned to the heirs of Heinrich Glanz

In June 2024, the German National Library returned a volume identified as looted by the Nazis to its heirs. The work by author David Asriel was formerly owned by the Viennese publisher Heinrich Glanz.

The title page contains a handwritten dedication by the author: “To Dr. Heinrich Glanz from the author, ing. David H. Asriel.” This made it possible to identify the former owner.

Closed by order of the Gestapo

Photo: DNB, Emily Löffler

Heinrich Glanz (1891-1958) came from a Jewish family. He had a doctorate in law and worked as a religious education teacher and sales representative for small Jewish publishing houses. In 1927, he opened a bookshop specializing in Hebraica and Judaica. Immediately after the 'annexation' of Austria in March 1938, he was forced to close the publishing house by order of the Gestapo. The publishing house's warehouse was presumably cleared out by the Gestapo and handed over to the book collection and distribution centre (Bücherverwertungsstelle) in September 1938. The book collection and distribution centre had been set up by the Reich Ministry of Propaganda in Vienna to sort confiscated books from book dealers, publishing companies, and private libraries and distribute them to libraries in the German Reich. From there, the book ended up in the collection of the German Library in Leipzig in 1939.

Heinrich Glanz and his wife Selma Glanz (1893-1985) were able to emigrate to London in 1938 and to New York two years later. The search for the heirs of Heinrich and Selma Glanz was carried out with the support of the Holocaust Claims Processing Office, which established contact with the community of heirs. With their consent, the German National Library was able to digitize the volume before its return, thus preserving it digitally for the library's collection.

Link to the digitised version: https://d-nb.info/1290610940

Expropriated during land reform: restitution to the Stolberg-Wernigerode Library

Heinrich Glanz's volume was not the only work successfully restituted in 2024. The German Museum of Books and Writing also identified three volumes from the Fürst zu Stolberg-Wernigerode Library and returned them. These had been expropriated in 1948 during land reform.

Since 2022, the Berlin State Library has been investigating the sales channels of the Central Antiquarian Bookstoreof the GDR, which was founded in 1959. The cooperation project with the German National Library is funded by the German Lost Art Foundation. The project is investigating the origin of book collections sold by the Central Antiquarian Bookstoreto libraries in the GDR or to the Federal Republic of Germany, including cases looted by the Nazis and land reform property. Three volumes from the Stolberg-Wernigerode library have now been identified among the acquisitions of the German Museum of Books and Writing from the Central Antiquarian Bookstore.

One of the great aristocratic libraries

Photo: DNB, Carl Götz

The library was one of the big aristocratic libraries and comprised over 130,000 volumes in the 1920s. As a result of economic difficulties, the princely house was forced to sell over 31,000 volumes between 1928 and 1933. In 1946, Soviet trophy brigades transported around 50,000 volumes to the Soviet Union. The remaining stock was expropriated in 1948 as part of land reform and transferred to the University and State Library in Halle – including three volumes that the German Museum of
Books and Writing acquired from the Central Antiquarian Bookstore between 1977 and 1987. In addition to the stamps of the Count Stolberg Library, they also bear duplicate notes from the Halle Library. These indicate that the volumes were viewed in Halle but not added to the inventory. They probably ended up at the Central Antiquarian Bookstorefrom there.

Books that were confiscated in the land reform are subject to the provisions of the Indemnification and Compensation Act from 1994. The three volumes were returned to the Stolberg-Wernigerode Library in October 2024 and are now accessible to the public there. With the permission of Philipp Fürst zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, the works were digitalised before being returned so that they can be preserved in digital form for the German Museum of Books and Writing and thus for the public.

Preserving collections for posterity

The German National Library not only collects, it also ensures that its holdings are preserved. Conservation work is therefore one of its core tasks. Last year, too, a great deal of work was done on preserving the holdings. As part of the construction work in the reading rooms, for example, all collections visible there were conserved. Damage to bindings and book blocks was repaired, and firmly glued plastic covers and old signature labels on sensitive binding materials were removed: a total of 330 volumes were restored in this way.

Archive-appropriate storage and cleaning

Infected by microbes or insects: 770 media items with wooden models, graphics, colored papers, or historical sound recordings were quarantined for eight weeks in 2024. They were then thoroughly cleaned. Surface pH measurements were also taken on around 1,000 media items.