Latvian State Historical Archives
Stamp of the library of the Livonian Knighthood
In 2018 a book from the library of the Latvian State Historical Archives was returned to the Latvian National Archives.
The stamp found in the book refers to the library of the Livonian Knighthood ("Livländische Ritterschaft"). This library was founded in 1853 in Riga and contained part of the Baltica collection originally belonging to Dr. Liborius Bergmann (1754-1823), pastor of St. Peter's Church in Riga. In 1918 this library (approx. 9000 volumes) became part of the library of the Latvian State Historical Archives ("Latvijas Valsts Vestures arhivs"), a predecessor of the Latvian Special Library of Archives ("Valsts arhivu Speciala biblioteka") founded in Riga in 1984. Today it is part of the Latvian National Archives.
The book was collected in a depot of the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA) at Eisenacher Str. 11-13 in Berlin Schöneberg. The RSHA had gathered looted books from all over Europe there. Parts of these books were distributed to libraries in Berlin by the Salvaging Office after the end of World War II in 1945.