SLUB Dresden and Burgstädt Municipal Library restitute books

Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) and Burgstädt Municipal Library have restituted three books to IG Metall in Chemnitz. The books were confiscated from the Chemnitz branch of the German Metalworkers’ Union (Deutscher Metallarbeiter-Verband, DMV) during the Nazi era as a result of persecution. It was possible to establish ownership based on stamps found inside the volumes. As the legal successor to the DMV, the present-day German trade union IG Metall has accepted the restitution and in turn donated the books back to the two libraries.
The storming of trade union headquarters throughout Germany on 2 May 1933 ranks among the darkest days in the history of the labour movement. Trade unions were banned by the National Socialists and their members were persecuted, imprisoned and murdered; their property and premises were confiscated, destroyed or liquidated. Following these expropriations, holdings from trade union libraries passed into the possession of the German Labour Front (DAF) – the Nazi regime’s unified labour organisation.

Discovery of the books at the SLUB Dresden

Two books bearing the stamp of the Chemnitz office of the DMV were identified in the holdings of Saxon State Library, one of the predecessor institutions of today’s SLUB Dresden. One volume entered the library on 22 June 1961 as a gift from the Zentralstelle für wissenschaftliche Altbestände (ZwA – Central Agency for Historic Academic Holdings). The second was acquired by the SLUB on 21 October 1977 from the GDR’s Zentralantiquariat (Central Antiquarian Bookshop) in Leipzig. Given the history of the dispersal of trade union libraries after 1933 and based on additional ownership marks found in the books – including those of the German Labour Front, the NSDAP Party Archive and the Central Library of the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB), there is evidence to suggest that the volumes were confiscated from the DMV Chemnitz during the Nazi period as a result of persecution. Both books must therefore be regarded as Nazi-looted property.
Research into the provenance of books that entered Saxon State Library after 1945 was carried out in connection with a previously completed provenance research project. A current project dedicated to identifying heirs in 300 cases of Nazi-looted property enabled identification of IG Metall Chemnitz as the legal successor to the DMV Chemnitz, resulting in the initiation of restitution proceedings. The German Lost Art Foundation provided funding for both projects.

Discovery of the book at Burgstädt Municipal Library

Burgstädt Library has received donations of books and archival materials from local residents ever since it was established in 1876. Over the years, this has led to the creation of an extensive historical and regional collection. The library’s historical holdings were catalogued and reviewed in 2023, with some 640 historical books being examined manually and approximately 260 ownership marks from previous owners being documented. The cataloguing project was made possible through cooperation between Burgstädt Municipal Library, Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK Leipzig) and the former Koordinierungsstelle (Coordination Office) Magdeburg of the Saxon State Office for Libraries at SLUB Dresden, which supported public libraries in Saxony with provenance research up until 2025.
Based on ownership inscriptions and research into the history of trade union libraries, project participants were able to identify one of the former owners as the DMV Chemnitz. Like many confiscated trade union library holdings, the book appears to have been transferred to Berlin and incorporated in the library of the German Labour Front. After 1945, the DAF library was absorbed into the holdings of East Germany’s Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB), as evidenced by additional stamps in the volume. In the decades that followed, the FDGB removed the book from its holdings and sold it through the second-hand book trade, where it was acquired by Manfred Delling of Burgstädt. When the latter’s estate was donated to the library in 2007, the book ultimately entered the holdings of Burgstädt Municipal Library.

Background: The German Metalworkers’ Union (DMV) Chemnitz and its library

Founded on 1 August 1891 at the Metalworkers’ Congress in Frankfurt am Main, the German Metalworkers’ Union (DMV) was a free trade union representing metalworkers. Following the legalisation of local DMV offices in Saxony in 1908, a branch was established in Chemnitz – then an important industrial centre and stronghold of the labour movement.
On 2 May 1933, SA units stormed trade union buildings across Germany, looting and vandalising them. The building in which the DMV was based – the Gewerkschaftshaus in Chemnitz – was not stormed, but it was occupied by the German Labour Front until the end of the war in 1945. As a result of the expropriation of the DMV, its library holdings became the property of the German Labour Front. Since the books were confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, volumes bearing DMV Chemnitz ownership marks are to be classified as Nazi-looted property.

SLUB case dossier on the restituted books: https://slub.qucosa.de/en/

To the funded projects at the SLUB: 

• Ermittlung von Erb:innen zu NS-Raubgut-Fällen im Bestand der Sächsischen Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden [Identifying heirs in cases of Nazi-looted property in the holdings of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden] (February 2026 to January 2028)
• NS-Raubgut in der SLUB (Bestände der Universitätsbibliothek) [NS-looted property in the SLUB (university library holdings)] (September 2021 to October 2025)
• NS-Raubgut in der SLUB (Erwerbungen nach 1945) [NS-looted property in the SLUB (acquisitions post-1945)] (September 2017 to October 2021)
• NS-Raubgut in der SLUB Dresden [NS-looted property in the SLUB Dresden] (October 2011 to March 2013)