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Friedman
92
these carelessly scattered treasures could be recovered after World
War II. Other Nazi institutions were also equipped with looted
Jewish books, notably the Jewish Department of the Reich Insti
tute for the History of the New Germany in Munich. (Later, after
the books had been recovered from the Institute and restored to
the library of the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in Ger
many, the writer saw in Munich part of the library of Professor
Moshe Schorr of Warsaw.)
When the ERR selected books for shipment to Germany, the
rejected books were usually destroyed on the spot. The following
directives were issued in February, 1943, by Dr. Cruse, of the Sec
tion of Acquisition and Examination: Books in Hebrew script (He
brew or Yiddish) of recent date, later than the year 1800, may be
turned to pulping; this applies also to prayer books,
Memorbiicher
,
and other religious works in the German language. All writings, on
the other hand, which deal with the history, culture and nature of
Judaism, as well as books written by Jewish authors in languages
other than Hebrew and Yiddish, must be shipped to Frankfurt.
The Frankfurt Institute apparently had no interest in acquiring
Torah Scrolls. One ERR official suggested, “Perhaps the leather
can be put to use for bookbinding.”Many scrolls were in fact used
in Nazi-occupied areas for binding books and for manufacturing
shoes, pocket books, belts, and other leather products.
The coveted goal of establishing a great Judaic library for the
Frankfurt Institute was nearing achievement. A comprehensive re
port stated that, as of April 1, 1943, more than a half million valu
able Jewish volumes had already been assembled there, and many
additional thousands were at various points awaiting transporta
tion.
A serious competitor of the ERR in the collection of books was
the Reich Chief Security Office in Berlin. Its first chief was the no
torious Professor Franz Alfred Six. A prolific writer, SS general
and head of the Department of Foreign Studies in the University
of Berlin, he had been in charge of one of the murderous
Ein-
satzgruppen
(Nazi extermination squads) in Eastern Europe in
1941. S. S. Sturmfuehrer Dr. Guenther was head librarian, and Dr.