Advertisement

Canada acquires rare book previously owned by Hitler

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Canada acquires rare book previously owned by Hitler
The Kehlsteinhaus, a former Nazi meeting point in Berchtesgaden, in the German Alps. Photo: DPA

Library and Archives Canada announced Wednesday it had acquired a rare 1944 book that once belonged to Adolf Hitler.

Advertisement

Written in German, "Statistics, Media, and Organizations of Jewry in the
United States and Canada" is a 137-page report produced in 1944 by Heinz
Kloss, a famed German linguist who had contact with US Nazi sympathizers.

The book details certain cities' population statistics along with organizations and media outlets key at the time to North America's Jewish communities, Library and Archives Canada said in a statement.

"This work hints at the story of what might have happened in Canada had the
Allies lost World War II. It also demonstrates that the Holocaust was not a
purely European event, but rather an operation that was stopped before it
reached North America," it added.

The bookplate bears an eagle, and swastika, and the words "Ex Libris Adolf
Hitler," indicating it was part of his personal library.

"It is fundamental ... to acquire, preserve and make available documents no
matter how controversial or contentious they could be," said Guy Berthiaume,
Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

Hitler was an avid reader with a collection reportedly containing 6,000 to
16,000 titles.

Library and Archives Canada said the book was likely brought back to the US
as a souvenir of war, as in spring 1945 American soldiers took thousands of
books from the Nazi leader's second home near Berchtesgaden, in the German Alps.

The institution added it acquired the book from a reputable Judaica dealer,
who obtained it as part of a collection owned by a Holocaust survivor.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also