YIVO Collections Plundered by the Nazis

1942.02 - Vilna c 1943 - Workers sorting through books in the YIVO building.jpg

Title

Description

On 24 June 1941, the Nazis captured Vilna. In March 1942, representatives of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg (Rosenberg Operation Group), the body charged with looting Jewish cultural property for the Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage (Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question) in Frankfurt, established a sorting center in the YIVO building. Workers were forced to select the most valuable objects from the collections of YIVO and other local Jewish institutions to be sent to Frankfurt, while the remaining items would be destroyed. Among the laborers were Ume Olkenitski (1899-1943), director of the Esther-Rachel Kaminska Theater Museum. Among the thousands of items plundered were the collections of the Theater Museum.

Rights

YIVO owns the compilation of content that is posted on this website, which consists of text, images, and/or audio, and video. However, YIVO does not necessarily own each component of the compilation. Some content is in the public domain and some content is protected by third party rights. It is the user's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in YIVO websites.

The materials on this web site may be used for personal, research and educational purposes only. Publication (including posting on the Internet and online exhibitions) or any other use without prior authorization is prohibited. Please visit https://www.yivo.org/Rights-Reproductions for more information about use of materials from this website.

YIVO has employed due diligence in seeking to identify copyright holders of the materials in this compilation. We invite any copyright owners who are not properly identified to contact us at yivomail@yivo.cjh.org.

Citation

“YIVO Collections Plundered by the Nazis,” YIVO Online Exhibitions, accessed December 23, 2024, https://shaulgoldman.yivo.org/items/show/2939.

Submit a transcription, translation or additional information on the song or the performer