Joseph Urdich

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joseph Urdich (born August 28, 1904 in Zadar , Dalmatia , † 1941 ) was a librarian at the University Library in Graz , where he committed book thefts that caused a sensation in 1929.

Urdich studied Classical Philology and Classical Archeology at the University of Graz and received his doctorate in 1925 . On June 27, 1927, he entered the University Library in Graz , where he was released again in 1929 for stealing books.

During his work as an academic librarian, Urdich stole numerous incunabula as well as valuable books from the 16th and 17th centuries in order to enrich himself by selling them. For the purpose of concealment, he gave the signatures and inventory numbers of the stolen books to newcomers and erased the traces of the no longer existing works in the catalogs. The fact that he used stationery with the head of the university library for his sales correspondence led to his accidental discovery when a reply letter was mistakenly sent to the library and so fell into the hands of the library director Jakob Fellin . After a house search, Urdich was arrested in July 1929 and sentenced to two years in heavy prison after a trial on February 13 and 15, 1930 in Graz. In 1939 he worked in the training department of the Niederdonau district administration of the German Labor Front in Vienna.

Joseph Urdich died in 1941 and was buried in the Weidlinger Friedhof in Klosterneuburg .

Publications

  • Joseph Urdich-Cobenzl: Epigraphic studies on the history of the Roman army in Dalmatia . Vienna [26, Weidling], [Archivist Dr.] J. Urdich-Cobenzl 1939. 74 signed p.

literature

  • FE: Book theft in the university library in Graz . In: Central Journal for Libraries. Volume 47, 1930, pp. 251-253
  • Manfred Hirschegger: History of the University Library Graz 1918–1945 . Vienna, Austrian Institute for Library Research, Documentation and Information 1989 (Biblos-Schriften, Volume 148) p. 24. 38

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Rademacher: Handbook of the NSDAP district 1928–1945. Vechta 2000, ISBN 3-8311-0216-3 , p. 349
  2. ↑ Susanne Lamm: The loyalty to the emperor, the thief, the history teacher and the librarian. Selected biographies of graduates in archeology and ancient history at the University of Graz (1873–1945). (PDF) In: Archeology and Republic. Reflections on archeology in Austria in the First and Second Republic. Abstracts. Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2019, p. 6 , accessed on March 22, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Weidling parish cemetery book. (PDF) Weidling Parish, December 25, 2018, accessed on March 22, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Urdich, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian librarian and book thief
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Zadar
DATE OF DEATH 1941