Bücher als Raubgut sind eine kleines Detail am Anfang des Staates Israel 1948.
The soldiers raiding these West Jerusalem neighborhoods were closely followed by teams of librarians from the Jewish National and University Library at Hebrew University (later referred to as National Jewish Library or simply the National Library). They gathered approximately 30,000 books from private Palestinian libraries and, according to testimonies from those involved in the project, began to catalog books by subject and often by owners’ names. In the early 1960s, however, close to 6,000 of the books were revisited and labeled with the letters “AP” for “abandoned property”. […] To this day, the books’ call numbers begin with the letters “AP.” The National Library has thus maintained a likely unintentional collection of looted Palestinian books, easily identifiable to those who understand what “AP” means. (Mermelstein: Overdue Books)
The Great Book Robbery (teaser) from Benny Brunner on Vimeo.
The Great Book Robbery is a multifaceted cultural heritage project. It has two major components: a documentary film to be produced, broadcast and screened internationally and this very website which will grow into a multi-function platform. Three European broadcasters already committed to air the film.
70,000 Palestinian books were systematically looted by the newly born state of Israel during the 1948 war. The story of the stolen books is not only at the heart of our project but also the launching pad of a much bigger and wider endeavor. We intend to communicate the scope and depth of the Palestinian tragedy through the destruction of Palestinian culture in 1948.
- Website des Projekts: http://thegreatbookrobbery.org/
- Hannah Mermelstein: Overdue Books: Returning Palestine’s “Abandoned Property” of 1948, in: Jerusalem Quarterly Autumn 2011,47
- Gish Amit: Ownerless Objects? The story of the books Palestinians left behind in 1948, in: Jerusalem Quarterly Winter 2008,33