Hans Margolius

In 2017, three books from Hans Margolius' estate were handed over to the Leo Baeck Institute in New York at the request of the heirs.

The writer, philosopher and librarian Dr. Hans Adolf/ph Manfred Margolius was born on 12 September 1902 in Korotschin (Poznan). From 1929 he worked as a librarian until he was banned from the profession in 1933, and from 1935 to 1937 as a lecturer at the Jüdisches Lehrhaus, both in Berlin. In 1939 he married the accountant Edith Metzger (*13 December 1915 in Wuppertal-Elberfeld) and escaped with her from Germany to the United States. There he first worked as a language teacher, later as a librarian and university lecturer, and continuously published philosophical works on various questions of ethics. He died in Miami in 1984.

Archive research shows that Hans and Edith Margolius were forced to sell their library of around 2,800 volumes before emigrating or that they were forced to sell them at auction after their departure.

Two of the books returned by the ZLB were recorded in the acquisition journal "Dombrowski" in 1951. This was an acquisition of about 1,000 volumes which were presumably given to the Berlin City Library by the Berlin Magistrate. Among them are looted items, mostly from private collections, as well as items that were definitely not looted. The third book is from the collection of the Ratsbibliothek Berlin, further information on the acquisition is not yet known.

The ZLB was kindly supported by Dr. Caroline Flick and the Brandenburgischen Landeshauptarchiv in the research that led to this restitution.

The books were returned in cooperation with the FU Berlin, the IGdJ Hamburg and the UB Gießen.