Contemporary history library

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Württemberg State Library, in whose rooms the library for contemporary history has been housed since 1951

The Library for Contemporary History (BfZ) is a special library and research facility for history and politics at the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart .

history

Rosenstein Castle, home of the World War I library from 1921 to 1944

The library was built in imitation of a 1915 by industrialist Richard Franck founded in Berlin War collection, 1921 as World War Library in Castle Rosenstein was officially opened in Stuttgart. Additional rooms could be made available there, so that in May 1933 the World War Museum was opened in addition to the library . Above all, materials such as posters, brochures and leaflets from the company's own collection were shown there. In September 1944 the library was almost completely destroyed in an Allied air raid .

The renaming of the former World War Library in Library of Contemporary History was made in 1948. In 1951 the library was working and storage rooms in the Württemberg State Library , since 1952 the state library handled the entire loan traffic without fogging. The public sector's share of funding grew steadily. Nevertheless, the BfZ remained independent until 1999, registered as a foundation under private law. It has been a department of the State Library since 2000.

The library's collection focuses on the history of wars, especially the First and Second World Wars , as well as civil wars, the history of genocide and state terror, foreign and security policy, as well as peace and conflict research . The collection currently comprises 380,000 volumes and 415 magazine subscriptions (as of June 2013).

The BfZ's book and magazine inventory is supplemented by the special collections: The Time of the World Wars collection focuses on documents from the years 1914–1949, including a. Photographs, posters, leaflets and life documents (diaries and letters from those who participated in the two world wars). The so-called naval archive includes a collection of around 500,000 photos of war and merchant ships from all over the world as well as a naval history collection with sea charts, construction drawings, construction plans and text documents (firing reports, radio messages, diaries, manuscripts, etc.) and creates documentation on naval war history.

Exhibition room of the World War Museum in Rosenstein Castle (around 1933)

The New Social Movements Department (formerly the Documentation Center for Unconventional Literature , from 1972) focuses on the internal political disputes in the Federal Republic of Germany since the 1960s (including the student movement, peace movement, anti-nuclear movement). The collection includes what is known as gray literature (magazines, brochures, leaflets) as well as posters and small items.

A digitization project of the BfZ focuses on the First World War . Regimental histories are primarily digitized and made available for free use on the Internet.

The BfZ has published numerous publications and organizes a monthly series of lectures on contemporary history. Since January 2020, the lectures have been recorded on video in cooperation with the Gerda Henkel Foundation and published on the LISA online portal .

Publications of the BfZ

Publications about the BfZ

  • Library for Contemporary History (Ed.): 50 Jare Library for Contemporary History, World War II Library Stuttgart, 1915-1965 . Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt a. M. 1965, DNB  450449629 .
  • Library for Contemporary History (Ed.): 75 Years Library for Contemporary History, 1915-1990 . Library for Contemporary History, Stuttgart 1990, DNB  911023259 .
  • Library for contemporary history (ed.): Systematic catalog of the library for contemporary history, Stuttgart. Microfiche edition with accompanying volume . Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-33855-4 .
  • Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg (ed.): In paper thunderstorms. 1914–1918, the war collections of the libraries. Accompanying volume to the exhibition "Orages de Papier" in the Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg, the Württemberg State Library Stuttgart and the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris . Somogy Ed. d'Art, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-7572-0225-8 .
  • Hannsjörg Kowark: The library for contemporary history. Stations of an integration . In: Thomas Bürger, Ekkehard Henschke (Hrsg.): Leading and developing libraries . Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-11616-0 , pp. 158-167 .
  • Christian Westerhoff (Ed.): 100 Years Library for Contemporary History, 1915-2015 . Württemberg State Library, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-88282-080-5 .
  • Christian Westerhoff: A "collection and maintenance center for national historical research". The World War II library in Stuttgart during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich . In: Journal for Württemberg State History . tape 76 , 2017, ISSN  0044-3786 , p. 331–359 , urn : nbn: de: bsz: boa-135311 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Westerhoff: The World War I Library in the Weimar Republic . In: Christian Westerhoff (Ed.): 100 years library for contemporary history . Württemberg State Library, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-88282-080-5 , pp. 42 .
  2. ↑ Irina Renz: The War Museum of the World War Library . In: Christian Westerhoff (Ed.): 100 years library for contemporary history . Württemberg State Library, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-88282-080-5 , pp. 57 ff .
  3. ↑ Thorsten Schöll: Rosenstein Castle in the hail of bombs. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung. September 12, 2019, accessed January 13, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Chronicle of the Naval War 1939-1945. Retrieved February 26, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Michael Rost: The collection of new social movements . In: Christian Westerhoff (Ed.): 100 years library for contemporary history . Württemberg State Library, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-88282-080-5 , pp. 129 ff .
  6. ^ Digital collection of the library for contemporary history. Retrieved February 26, 2020 .