@article{bibcite_14245,
  author = {Margaret F. Stieg},
  title = {The Postwar Purge of German Public Libraries, Democracy, and the American Reaction},
  abstract = {<p>The underlying objective of the public library policy of the four powers that occupied Germany in 1945 was to reeducate the Germans. Wartime planning had defined as unacceptable anything that glorified militarism, propagated National Socialism, favored discrimination on grounds of race or religion, was hostile to or sought to disturb the relations between any of the United Nations, or expounded the practice of war. After the German defeat books that fell into these categories were removed from public libraries in all four zones. The approach, however, varied from zone to zone; the British and Americans tried to use the purge of collections to train the Germans in democratic thinking; the Soviets, like the Nazi authorities before them, issued lists of proscribed titles. Allied Control Council Order No. 4 in June 1946 attempted to create greater uniformity. In Germany the order brought another round of purges for library collections; in the United States it aroused sharp criticism, despite the fact that the order was really no more than a systematization of regulations previously in effect. Ultimately, defining a public library policy required the resolution of differences between the purposes of occupation and the occupying power{\textquoteright}s definition of democracy.</p>},
  year = {1993},
  journal = {Libraries \& Culture},
  volume = {28},
  pages = {143-164},
  language = {English},
}