German Library Helsinki

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The German Library Helsinki ( Finnish : Saksalainen kirjasto ) is located in the center of Helsinki , a little south of the Esplanade in the Kaartinkaupunki district . It has a collection of over 40,000 German-language books and magazines.

history

German Library Helsinki

The library was created in the 19th century through a private initiative. 12 German-speaking families formed a reading ring in 1877 . Each member purchased at least one book a year, which was then taken in turn. It was about the families Haller, Jahn, Kirstein, Kolster, Luther, Mickwitz, Minckwitz, Rohde, Rudolph, Stockmann , Tobisen and Wetzer. After just a few years, they gave their books to the German community as the basis for a library. May 4, 1881, the day on which Pastor Kirstein announced the donation, is considered the day the German Library was founded. It was a stock of around 60 books, which by 1914 had grown to 200 books with second copies from Saint Petersburg .

At the beginning of the 20th century, two more German-language libraries were founded in Helsinki: that of the German Association, which recorded around 500 volumes in 1914, and that of the German School . In 1927, fifty years after the German community's reading ring was founded, these three libraries were merged. Erwin Ackerknecht , an important organizer of the public libraries in Germany, acted as a consultant for the basic organizational work . At that time, this newly opened German library had around 2000 volumes and was accessible to everyone. The library set itself the goal of firstly collecting all literature pertaining to Finland in a special Fennica section and secondly of making a selection of books available to the German-speaking communities outside Helsinki. These goals are still valid today: The Fennica collection of the German Library currently consists of around 4,000 volumes - and books are still being delivered to other libraries in Finland via interlibrary loan.

The Deutsche Bücherei had its domicile first in Unioninkatu 19, later in the southern Esplanade No. 12. Among other things, it had a reading room with German-language newspapers. Until 1944 and 1955–59 the library was headed by Dagmar Hernberg. After that, Alfred Schmidt worked for several decades as library manager.

Due to the Finnish-Soviet armistice , the library was closed in 1944. In 1955 an association was founded to promote the awareness of German-language literature in Finland. This association was called "Helsingin saksalainen kirjastoyhdistys"; its founders were Max Aue, Wilhelm Dahm, Dagmar Hernberg, Pekka Katara, Emil Öhmann, Alfred Schmidt, Geert Sentzke and Kurt Stude. In addition to Germans, Finns were now also elected to the board - the chairman was usually a university professor. This association is still the sponsor of the German Library.

The library's activities began again in the premises of the German School until the same year 1955, with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany, the current premises at Kasarmitori could be acquired. The stock of around 7000 volumes at that time has now grown to a collection of over 36,000 volumes. The library exhibits an area of ​​250 m²; There are also rented storage rooms in the house (approx. 60 m²). Her archive also includes bequests related to her fields of work (Margarete Aue, Johannes Klein, Richard Kollmann, Erich Kunze, Gustav Marckwort, Heinrich Minden, Rita Öhquist ).

Today, most of the holdings are available on the Internet; The library website also provides information about events, new acquisitions and the library's publications.

The German Library has published the yearbook for Finnish-German literary relations since 1967 , the main emphasis of which is on mediating between Finnish and German-language literature. In addition to first translations of contemporary Finnish literature and literary contributions that also include other Baltic Finnish languages , essays from other humaniora disciplines are also published.

In 2007 the German Library Helsinki was awarded the German Language Culture Prize.

literature

  • Annette Forsén: The German Library in Helsinki. A 125-year-old cultural institution . In: Arcturus. German-speaking region and the European Northeast , Vol. 4 (2007), ISSN  1237-7422 , pp. 165-173.

Web links

Coordinates: 60 ° 9 ′ 57 ″  N , 24 ° 56 ′ 57 ″  E