Willi Münzenberg

In 2018 a book from Willi Münzenberg's library could be returned.

Willi Münzenberg was born on 14 August 1889 in Erfurt. He was a communist, publisher and film producer. He was one of the most influential representatives of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in the Weimar Republic.

After the Reichstag fire, Münzenberg had to immediately emigrate to Paris as one of the most sought-after communists. In August 1933 his German citizenship was revoked and his name appeared on the first expatriation list of the German Reich. Willi Münzenberg died in France in 1940, presumably at the end of June, after escaping from temporary internment under hitherto unclear circumstances.

The dedicatee "B." may have been Willi Münzenberg's partner Babette Gross, née Thuringia, (1898 - 1990).

The path of the book into the stock of the Berlin City Library is unknown. Shortly after the end of World War II in 1946, the book was added to the collection as a "gift". The supplier "Kulturamt" (Cultural Office) indicated in the acquisition journal is presumably associated with the Berlin magistrate, but this supplier designation was also used for Nazi-loot that was already held in the library.