SIG and ICZ establish foundation for the restoration of the ‘Breslauer Schriften’

Breslauer Schriften

The Jewish Theological Seminary in Wrocław was founded in 1854 and became one of the most important Jewish educational institutions in Europe. By 1937, its library comprised around 40,000 volumes, predominantly in Hebrew, including Torah and Talmud literature, works of classical literature, philosophy, philology, astronomy and mathematics, as well as Christian writings. The collection is both living evidence of the thriving Jewish culture that existed in German-speaking territories before World War II, and a testament to German-Jewish assimilation into mainstream German culture. In 1938, the Nazis closed, looted and completely destroyed the seminary.

After the Second World War, the Allies sought to collect and preserve Jewish cultural heritage wherever possible. This heritage included archives, libraries and ritual objects, but also art, which was dealt with under separate rules (plundered and looted art). For some of this cultural heritage, it proved impossible to identify successors or heirs. The Commission on European Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Inc. JCR was responsible for the administration and distribution of this cultural heritage under then director Hannah Arendt. Among the cultural assets administered by the JCR were books from the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary in Wrocław (Breslauer Schriften).

The library of the ICZ as a whole is listed in the federal Inventory of Cultural Property as an object of national importance (A-object). The Inventory of Cultural Property serves as a basis for planning protective measures against the dangers of armed conflicts, disasters and emergencies.

The history and significance of the Breslauer Schriften entail a responsibility on the part of the SIG, the ICZ and society at large. Restoring, communicating and ensuring wider accessibility will help to raise awareness of the importance of this extraordinary collection. While it includes rare individual volumes, the collection as a whole stands for the attempted destruction of European Jewry as well as for the successful reconstruction of Jewish culture in Europe. In the face of the Nazi aim to go beyond the Holocaust and wipe out an entire culture, the relics of the once-great library of the Wrocław rabbinical seminary are also ‘survivors’ of the Shoah. The fact that the canton and the city of Zurich are supporting the project underscores the status of the ‘Breslauer Schriften’ as a cultural asset of national importance.