Why a Library?
The free library in the Jüdischer Friedhof Krems, to some, may simply be an extension of Clegg & Guttmann's on-going art project Open Free Library. Yet it is a uniquely fitting tribute to a Jewish community that was forced out of a city, a community that across the continent was nearly wiped out. The Museum of Arte Útil (2014) describes the goal of the entire Open Free Library project as "provid[ing] a reflection of the communities and to stimulate social imagination and collective responsibility." Libraries are all these things--a mirror to society, a stimulus to the imagination and education and thus the library is a reminder that everyone is responsible to each other. The information stored within the library is heritage preserved.
This is not a historical concept. We see it even today in the regions under siege by radical terrorists. A group of librarians in Mali steal away and then hide ancient manuscripts, in danger of being purged by AQIM (a branch of al Qaeda). When interviewed, the man spearheading this effort recalled a different historical example: "Unless you have [a written condition], you are not a civilization, which was a pernicious argument that provided justification for the slave trade. The absence of writing, of books, was seen as a reflection of the subhuman position of the Africans." (Hammer, 2014)
The Nazis knew the value of the written word, and also desired to reinforce their ideas that the Jewish people were a subhuman race. Destroying places and hunting people would not be enough to eradicate Judaism; destroying the written information and stories would be the final nail in any culture's coffin, depriving a people of their past and their memories. Starting in the 1930's, Jewish books began to be seized in Germany and as the army invaded other countries, those books would be confiscated as well. "An untold number of books...were destroyed...books burned or simply thrown onto rubbish heaps. ...The systematic looting of Jewish culture devastated Jewish religious life throughout occupied Europe." (Waite, 2002)
Yet if the Nazis were aware of the importance of the written word to a culture's survival, so were the Jewish people they rounded up and put into camps. Dr. Nobert Frýd, a prisoner in the Theresienstadt concentration camp remembered that "practically no one...had not brought at least one book in 50kg allowed him." Jana Friesová, another prisoner in the same camp, also wrote in her memoirs that everyone brought a book that was "closest to his or her heart." (Intrator, 2007) This belief that books carried culture was shown to still be alive 59 years after the end of the war, when Dr. Streibel recorded that of the hundred or so people he saw at the grand opening, "many" had brought books with them to stock the new library of Jüdischer Friedhof Krems. (Streibel, 2004)
Shortly after Kristallnacht, ninety-two Jews fled from Krems to Vienna. The fate of those 129 who stayed was either death or expulsion--their names are recorded on a 140 ft. metal sculpture at the entrance of the cemetery. Only one Jew, Johann Kohn, returned after the war to live in Krems. While the Jewish community has rebuilt itself by individuals moving to the area since then, its history with Krems is gone since Kohn's death around the turn of the century. By installing a library within the cemetery, it is a symbol that history is not forgotten. These materials can teach other Jewish citizens what came before them, act as a base for future development, and the materials can also educate non-Jewish readers about their culture and religion, to avoid the errors of the past.
The written tradition of the Jewish people, containing their heritage and traditions, survived as evidenced by the donated books sitting on the glass-encased shelves. Libraries, no matter their size, represent a society. Libraries store people's history, their knowledge, and their culture. The installation of an Open Free Library in the Jüdischer Friedhof Krems reflects the perseverance of the Jewish people, the power of the written word, and the need for access to information, to break down barriers between peoples.
This is not a historical concept. We see it even today in the regions under siege by radical terrorists. A group of librarians in Mali steal away and then hide ancient manuscripts, in danger of being purged by AQIM (a branch of al Qaeda). When interviewed, the man spearheading this effort recalled a different historical example: "Unless you have [a written condition], you are not a civilization, which was a pernicious argument that provided justification for the slave trade. The absence of writing, of books, was seen as a reflection of the subhuman position of the Africans." (Hammer, 2014)
The Nazis knew the value of the written word, and also desired to reinforce their ideas that the Jewish people were a subhuman race. Destroying places and hunting people would not be enough to eradicate Judaism; destroying the written information and stories would be the final nail in any culture's coffin, depriving a people of their past and their memories. Starting in the 1930's, Jewish books began to be seized in Germany and as the army invaded other countries, those books would be confiscated as well. "An untold number of books...were destroyed...books burned or simply thrown onto rubbish heaps. ...The systematic looting of Jewish culture devastated Jewish religious life throughout occupied Europe." (Waite, 2002)
Yet if the Nazis were aware of the importance of the written word to a culture's survival, so were the Jewish people they rounded up and put into camps. Dr. Nobert Frýd, a prisoner in the Theresienstadt concentration camp remembered that "practically no one...had not brought at least one book in 50kg allowed him." Jana Friesová, another prisoner in the same camp, also wrote in her memoirs that everyone brought a book that was "closest to his or her heart." (Intrator, 2007) This belief that books carried culture was shown to still be alive 59 years after the end of the war, when Dr. Streibel recorded that of the hundred or so people he saw at the grand opening, "many" had brought books with them to stock the new library of Jüdischer Friedhof Krems. (Streibel, 2004)
Shortly after Kristallnacht, ninety-two Jews fled from Krems to Vienna. The fate of those 129 who stayed was either death or expulsion--their names are recorded on a 140 ft. metal sculpture at the entrance of the cemetery. Only one Jew, Johann Kohn, returned after the war to live in Krems. While the Jewish community has rebuilt itself by individuals moving to the area since then, its history with Krems is gone since Kohn's death around the turn of the century. By installing a library within the cemetery, it is a symbol that history is not forgotten. These materials can teach other Jewish citizens what came before them, act as a base for future development, and the materials can also educate non-Jewish readers about their culture and religion, to avoid the errors of the past.
The written tradition of the Jewish people, containing their heritage and traditions, survived as evidenced by the donated books sitting on the glass-encased shelves. Libraries, no matter their size, represent a society. Libraries store people's history, their knowledge, and their culture. The installation of an Open Free Library in the Jüdischer Friedhof Krems reflects the perseverance of the Jewish people, the power of the written word, and the need for access to information, to break down barriers between peoples.
Resources
1.) Museum of Arte Útil. (2014) "Michael Clegg and Martin Guttmann: The Open Public Library." Museumarteutil.net. Available http://museumarteutil.net/projects/the-open-public-library/
2.) Hammer, Joshua. (2014) "The Brave Sage of Timbuktu: Abdel Kader Haidara." Nationalgeographic.com. Available at http://bit.ly/1hdKVB3
3.) Waite, Robert G. (2002) "Returning Jewish Cultural Property: the Handling of Books Looted by the Nazis in the American Zone of Occupation, 1945-1952." Libraries & Culture, 37 (3), 213-228. Available at http://bit.ly/2pzumv9
4.) Intrator, Miriam. (2007) "'People Were Literally Starving for Any Kind of Reading': The Theresienstadt Ghetto Central Library, 1942-1945." Library Trends, 55 (3), 513-522. Available at http://bit.ly/2pz8gZX
5.) Streibel, Robert. (2004) "Die Bibliothek ist eröffnet." Juden in Krems. Available http://judeninkrems.at/die-bibliothek-ist-eroeffnet/
6.) American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. (2017) "Krems." Jewish Virtual Library. Available http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/krems
7.) Atlas Obscura. (2017) "The Cemetery Library." Atlasobscura.com. Available http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/judischer-friedhof-krems
8.) Streibel, Robert. (2003) "Warum erinnern?" Juden in Krems. Available at http://judeninkrems.at/juden-in-krems/
2.) Hammer, Joshua. (2014) "The Brave Sage of Timbuktu: Abdel Kader Haidara." Nationalgeographic.com. Available at http://bit.ly/1hdKVB3
3.) Waite, Robert G. (2002) "Returning Jewish Cultural Property: the Handling of Books Looted by the Nazis in the American Zone of Occupation, 1945-1952." Libraries & Culture, 37 (3), 213-228. Available at http://bit.ly/2pzumv9
4.) Intrator, Miriam. (2007) "'People Were Literally Starving for Any Kind of Reading': The Theresienstadt Ghetto Central Library, 1942-1945." Library Trends, 55 (3), 513-522. Available at http://bit.ly/2pz8gZX
5.) Streibel, Robert. (2004) "Die Bibliothek ist eröffnet." Juden in Krems. Available http://judeninkrems.at/die-bibliothek-ist-eroeffnet/
6.) American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. (2017) "Krems." Jewish Virtual Library. Available http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/krems
7.) Atlas Obscura. (2017) "The Cemetery Library." Atlasobscura.com. Available http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/judischer-friedhof-krems
8.) Streibel, Robert. (2003) "Warum erinnern?" Juden in Krems. Available at http://judeninkrems.at/juden-in-krems/