{"id":75135,"date":"2025-11-29T23:09:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T21:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/?post_type=magazin&p=75135"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:53:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:53:28","slug":"the-library-of-rescued-east-german-books","status":"publish","type":"magazin","link":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/en\/magazine\/collecting\/the-library-of-rescued-east-german-books\/","title":{"rendered":"The library of rescued East German books"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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\n\tCollecting<\/a><\/div>\r\n

\r\n The library of rescued East German books <\/h2>\r\n\r\n
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How a pastor in Lower Saxony saved thousands of East German books from destruction \u2013 and why one of them gave space research a crucial lead.
\nBy Sarah Schmidt<\/a> (text), Thomas M\u00fcller-Vahl<\/a> (photos)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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It all began<\/strong> with a picture and a sense of horror. In 1991 Martin Weskott, a Protestant pastor, was leafing through the S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung. On page four was a photo of books being tipped out of a muck spreader at a rubbish dump near Plottendorf \u2013 in the open air, exposed to the rain, piled up like worthless rubble. Books from East German stocks: Phaedrus, Heinrich Mann, Stefan Heym. Complete, fresh from the printers, some still packed on pallets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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100,000 books on the tip \u2013 and one man sets off<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

Together with volunteers from his parish in Katlenburg-Lindau, he set off. With a VW van, a trailer and later lorries, when a drinks wholesaler helped out at weekends, they collected books. Tens of thousands of works that were due to be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Many of these books weren’t just valuable from a literary or historical point of view,\u2019 he says today. \u2018They were unique, and contained knowledge you simply can’t get anywhere else any more.\u2019 What began as a spontaneous act grew over three decades into a significant collection of books.<\/p>\n\n\n \n\n

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The B\u00fccherburg in<\/strong> Katlenburg-Lindau is an archive of currently around 50,000 books. In the 1990s, the pastor Martin Weskott began rescuing books from being pulped \u2013 at first from the former GDR.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n \n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div> \n\n\n \n\n \n \n\n

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Under the motto<\/strong> \u2018pass it on, don\u2019t throw it away\u2019, Weskott works to give these books a second life. Visitors to the B\u00fccherburg can browse the archive themselves and take books home in exchange for a donation.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n \n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div> \n\n\n \n\n \n<\/div>\n\n\n

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More than 50,000 books: a library against forgetting<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

Today the collection holds<\/strong> more than 50,000 works: specialist literature, textbooks, illustrated books and children’s books. A treasure that isn’t hoarded but shared. Anyone who drops by can browse, take books away and keep them. \u2018Pass books on instead of throwing them away\u2019 is the guiding principle \u2013 and a quiet rebellion against the throwaway society. At a time when culture is often measured in clouds and clicks, an analogue counter-world is growing here: tangible, lasting, surprising.

\u2018I have books that are more than 300 years old,\u2019 says Weskott. \u2018I can just take them off the shelf and read them. But digital storage media? You have to back up the data every ten years \u2013 if you can still find the software at all.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Magnesium silicates and the road to Saturn<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

One of the rescued books<\/strong> shows particularly clearly why this work matters so much: a volume on magnesium silicates, printed in the GDR. It fell into the hands of a scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy \u2013 purely by chance, when he was browsing the collection after a church service.

Magnesium silicates \u2013 hardly a thrilling subject. Yet in this book the scientist found crucial formulas for the mounting of a photospectrometer, an instrument that later flew to Saturn on board the Cassini probe. \u2018It’s absurd and wonderful at the same time,\u2019 says the book collector. \u2018A book that almost ended up being burned contributes to space research. What does that say about the way we treat knowledge?\u2019

The story made headlines around the world, with articles in New Scientist and The Times. A German book from East German stocks, found in rural Lower Saxony, became part of interplanetary research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a library<\/strong> you can find the things that broaden your horizons even further.<\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \"\"\r\n Martin Weskott<\/span>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n \r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\n\n\n

\u2018That’s the encyclopaedia effect,\u2019 he explains. It is the fundamental difference from searching online, he says: on the internet we only find what we can put into words \u2013 in libraries we find what broadens our minds. Many visitors come with specific requests: schoolbooks for their children, study material for teacher training. \u2018Others just drop by because they’ve heard about us. Especially in spring, when people are clearing out or travelling \u2013 that’s when it gets really busy here.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n \n\n

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The collection is funded<\/strong> entirely by donations. A small circle of volunteers \u2013 around 25 people \u2013 helps with sorting, archiving and restoring.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n \n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div> \n\n\n \n\n \n \n\n

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In Sarajevo, Belgrade,<\/strong> Shanghai or Lviv, the books help people learn German or stock entire philology departments.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n \n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div> \n\n\n \n\n \n<\/div>\n\n\n

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From rubbish tip to world library<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

What was once rescued<\/strong> from the GDR has travelled on: to Sarajevo, Belgrade, Shanghai and Lviv. There the books now help people learn German or stock entire philology departments. \u2018These books don’t just have material value, they have cultural value too,\u2019 he stresses. \u2018They show perspectives, voices and content that would otherwise have been lost \u2013 for example from lesser-known East German writers who were never allowed to be published in the West.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Books aren’t<\/strong> just memories \u2013 they’re raw material for new ideas.<\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \"\"\r\n Martin Weskott<\/span>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n \r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\n\n\n

The collection is funded entirely by donations. A small group of volunteers \u2013 around 25 people \u2013 help with sorting, archiving and restoring. Many of them are retired; some are new. And although the effort is considerable \u2013 every day, duplicates are re-sorted and books are accepted and checked for completeness \u2013 the purpose is greater still: \u2018If we manage to help someone find a good book that would otherwise have been lost, then it’s been worth it.\u2019

The outlook remains cautiously optimistic: the collection is now known throughout Germany, and people bring books from all over the country. \u2018I hope this model catches on. In Switzerland, for example, there are the Brockenstuben \u2013 second-hand shops where even people who drive a Porsche buy used goods.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Veronika Schneider fled the GDR as a young woman \u2013 and only realised decades later how long the fear had kept its grip on her.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

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\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n
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A small town in Hesse looks after one of the largest collections on Nazi persecution. There\u2019s a specific reason why its location isn\u2019t public.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

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Recommended by the editors<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Misogynistic content spreads rapidly on social media. For many young women, it is no longer a digital phenomenon but part of everyday life. An investigation into quiet radicalisation, a lack of prevention and the consequences in real life.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

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Almost every day in Germany, a woman is killed because she is a woman. Photographer Selma von Hennigs documents the crime scenes in her home town of Regensburg.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

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\r\n Between silence and storm surge: a hermit on the Hallig <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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Nick, 48, from Berlin has swapped his old life for solitude off the coast of North Frisia. A visit.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

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\n TO THE MAGAZINE HOMEPAGE<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":62698,"template":"","tags":[385,391,331,374],"magazinkategorie":[217],"class_list":["post-75135","magazin","type-magazin","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-sammeln-alltagskultur-en","tag-ddr-ostdeutschland-en","tag-photo-series-en","tag-erinnerungskultur-en","magazinkategorie-collecting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe library of rescued East German books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A pastor in Lower Saxony saved thousands of books from the rubbish tip \u2013 and, unexpectedly, even helped space research.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/en\/magazine\/collecting\/the-library-of-rescued-east-german-books\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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