Christian Science (First Church of ChristScientist)

One of the restituted books

Since 2017, four books from reading rooms of Christian Science in Berlin and Wroclaw could be returned to the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston.

Christian Science is a doctrine developed by Mary Baker Eddy around 1870, on the basis of which a faith community was founded in 1879. Introduced in Germany at the end of the 19th century, there were soon several churches and congregations. From 1937 onwards, the Nazi regime began to hinder a free activity of Christian Science, and in 1941 it was eventually banned.

The books were part of unprocessed depot holdings of the Berlin City Library. One book from Breslau was acquired via the "Bergungsstelle", here order no. 15, a depot of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), which contained Nazi-looted books from all over Europe. The access routes of the books from Berlin are unknown.