Georg P. Salzmann

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Georg P. Salzmann (1994)

Georg P. Salzmann (born January 17, 1929 as Georg Paul Salzmann in Waltershausen ; † November 9, 2013 in Graefelfing ) was a German book collector . He built the library of burned books . These were the largest private library in works (especially first editions ) of those writers who in the era of National Socialism as were ostracized . Burned refers to the burning of such books in Germany in 1933 .

Life

Salzmann was born in 1929 to a family of manufacturers from Thuringia . His father and grandfather were supporters of National Socialism . Salzmann was a member of the Hitler Youth and was wounded as a soldier in World War II . A soldier in the US armed forces showed him the Buchenwald concentration camp , which was liberated in April 1945 . As a result, Salzmann gave up his National Socialist sentiments. His father shot himself in May 1945 because he felt complicit in the rise of the National Socialists. Salzmann later worked as a financial clerk in housing construction until he retired in 1994. In 2007 he was awarded the Karl Preusker Medal . He was married. Salzmann died in 2013 in the Lochham district of the Gräfelfing community.

Private library

It was more or less by chance that Salzmann became interested in the works of writers ostracized by the National Socialists. Since 1976 he has been systematically building up his library of burned books in his home in Graefelfing . His aim was to collect as comprehensively as possible the works of these ostracized writers such as Heinrich Mann , Erich Kästner , Joseph Roth , Stefan Zweig and Carl Zuckmayer . He was particularly interested in first editions. In 2008, his library contained around 14,500 volumes, with the works of around 80 authors being almost entirely available. A report by the Bavarian State Library described Salzmann's library as a unique collection.

For a long time Salzmann tried to sell his library to the state in order to make it accessible to the public as a reference library . In 2009, the Augsburg University Library finally took over around 11,000 volumes from Salzmann's collection. Salzmann's daughter made another part of his private library accessible to the public as a lending library in the Brandenburg town of Himmelpfort in 2015 .

First editions in the archive room

Salzmann kept his collection in the basement of his house in Graefelfing. There was a practical reason for this: the books were too heavy in their sum. He feared that the upper floors of his house would not hold the 14,000+ books.

  • The first edition of the novel Fiend France

  • The first edition of the chess novella

  • The open first edition of the chess novella

  • Georg P. Salzmann at the bookshelf

literature

  • Andrea Voss, Gerhard Stumpf, Ulrich Hohoff (Hrsg.): Library of burned books. The collection of Georg P. Salzmann in the Augsburg University Library . Allitera, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-96233-107-8 .

Web links

Commons : Georg P. Salzmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituaries. In: New Germany . November 16, 2013, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  2. ^ Salzmann, Georg Paul. In: Catalog of the German National Library . Retrieved November 22, 2015 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Ulrich Hohoff: “I just didn't want the Nazis to be right in retrospect.” University of Augsburg , November 12, 2003, accessed on November 22, 2015 .
  4. ↑ a b Died. In: Der Spiegel . November 18, 2013, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e Georg Etscheit: Brecht until the walls creak. In: Zeit Online . May 1, 2008, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Stefan Blumberg: Unique collection for Himmelpfort. In: Märkische Allgemeine . October 28, 2015, accessed November 22, 2015 .
  7. ^ Kinskofer, L. , Bohnenstengel, A. (1994): Salzmanns Archiv in: Civilcourage Forum, issue 2/1994 , pp. 32–35
personal data
SURNAME Salzmann, Georg P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Salzmann, Georg Paul (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German book collector
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Waltershausen
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 2013
Place of death Graefelfing