Die Bibliothek in Theresienstadt 1942-1945: Zur Rolle einer Leseinstitution in der Enlösung der Judenfrage

The present study represents the intersection of different research approaches in cultural science: the generál research into the extermination of European Jewry undertaken by the Nazis, research into culture and way of life in the Theresienstadt "model ghetto", and, in the sphere of reading research, examining organizations, institutions and conditions of reading on the background of the genocide. The principal target of the study is the question whether meaningful cultural work is possible in the face of the reign of totalitarianism and violence. The object selected is the "Jewish settlement" Theresienstadt, with its special role in the Nazi extermi­nation plan being taken into account. Theresienstadt, set up in 1941 as "family and destination camp" (no transports further east) for the Jews from Bohemia and Moravia with "self-administration" by Prague Zionists, became the "Jewish old-age ghetto" of the whole Reich in 1942. The project of the Prague Zionists was jeopardized by difficulties resulting from the Czech Jews being mixed with German and Austrian Jews. The specific organization of die Theresienstadt library under Emü Utitz, however, had its merits as an attempt at reaching a settlement between differing national groups by purposeful cultural work.