Heinrich Klang

In 2022, three books from the library of Heinrich Klang could be given back. The books were returned in a joint effort with the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, the Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen, the Universitätsbibliothek Graz, and the Universitätsbibliothek Wien.

Cooperative research by researchers from Germany and Austria unambiguously attributed a stamp contained in the returned books to Dr. James Klang (1847-1914).

James Klang's son Heinrich (1875-1954) habilitated in Austrian private law at the University of Vienna in 1923 and received the title of associate university professor in 1925. In 1938 he was persecuted as Jewish, removed from office and his venia legendi was withdrawn by decree of the Ministry of Education. As a result, Heinrich Klang was forced to sell the majority of his private library with around 9,600 volumes via antiquarian bookshops in Vienna, Leipzig, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main to finance his living expenses and his intended "emigration". In September 1942, he was deported to Theresienstadt. Heinrich Klang survived and returned to Vienna in July 1945.

In August 1945 Heinrich Klang was appointed Honorary Professor of Civil Law and from 1945 until his retirement in 1949 he served as a judge of the Supreme Court (President of the Senate) and as Chairman of the Supreme Restitution Commission. Heinrich Klang was editor of the Juristische Blätter, chairman of the Juristische Gesellschaft; he published a commentary on the General Civil Code, which became the basis of Austrian jurisprudence. The Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna awards a Heinrich Klang Prize for the best graduates.

The volumes restituted by the ZLB were purchased by the Berlin City Library in 1940 from the antiquarian bookshop Alfred Wolf in Vienna.