The Music Collection of the Former Prussian State Library at the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków, Poland: Past, Present, and Future Developments

Before World War II the Prussian State Library, with its three million volumes, was one of the most important German libraries. It was operational until mid-1943, but the ever-increasing number of air raids over Berlin led to a large-scale evacuation of its collections to the east in late 1943 and early 1944. Among the most prized collections removed for safekeeping were hundreds of autograph scores and music manuscripts by Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach. As the result of postwar border changes some of these collections ended up in the Jagiellonian University Library in Kraków, where they remain. Since the unification of Germany consecutive German governments have been trying to negotiate the return of the Prussian music collection from Kraków to Berlin. However, negotiations have been extremely difficult as the broader question of German compensations for losses inflicted on Polish libraries by the Nazis is being raised. This article discusses the Prussian music collection in the context of cultural heritage and war reparations. Introduction The story of the music collection of the Prussian state library in the aftermath of World War II exemplifies an ongoing debate about cultural loss, war reparations and restitution, and trophy collections. At the very center of this debate lies the question of Poland’s right to the former Prussian State Library collection and Germany’s accountability for cultural losses inflicted on Poland during World War II. According to the November 2004 final report of a commission set up by Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczyński to estimate losses inflicted on Poland’s capital LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 55, No. 3, Winter 2007 (“Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social Change,” edited by W. Boyd Rayward and Christine Jenkins), pp. 651–664 © 2007 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois The Music Collection of the Former Prussian State Library at the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków, Poland: Past, Present, and Future Developments