Karl Kautsky

In 2016 a book from the library of Karl Kautsky could be returned.

The politician, journalist and philosopher Karl Kautsky (born on 16 October 1854 in Prague, died on 17 October 1938 in Amsterdam) was persecuted during Nazism for political reasons. His jewish wife Luise Kautsky-Ronsperger was deported via Westerbork to Auschwitz in 1944 and murdered there.

Karl and Luise Kautsky gave their estate including their library to the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam in 1938. The IISH soon transferred the estate in order to prevent it from being seized by the Germans. The archives were sent to London, the library to Paris. Shortly after the invasion by German forces, the library in Paris was confiscated.

In 2015, a book from Karl Kautsky's library at the Free University of Berlin (FU) was returned to the IISH.

The access route of the book to the holdings of the ZLB is unknown. It can be assumed that the book, just like the one found in the FU, originates from the holdings of the " Gegnerbibliothek" ("Enemy`s Library") of the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA) in Berlin.