Bibliotheken als doelwit én wapen. Libricide in Oekraïne in WO II

Samenvatting

During World War II, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) looted and destroyed materials from Ukrainian libraries on a large scale. At the same time, however, this service also took care of Ukrainian libraries. This is evident from the fate of the central city library of Kherson, one of the Ukrainian libraries that the ERR confiscated in 1942. This article describes how the dual role of the ERR in Ukrainian libraries can be understood: looting and destruction, but also care and investment. It describes how the ERR's library policy in Ukraine was motivated by well-understood self-interest and was consistent with what Raphael Lemkin called the two phases of cultural genocide: the destruction of culture and the imposition of the culture of those in power.