Returned from Russia: Nazi Archival Plunder in Western Europe and Recent Restitution Issues (review)

Returned from Russia starts with a 132-page introduction by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted chronicling the plunder of archives by Nazi Germany, the taking of the plundered archives by Soviet forces, the relocation of these archives to the USSR, and the long but ultimately largely successful efforts to secure the return of these archives. The book then features chapters by leading archivists from various countries discussing the extended negotiations for the archives’ return. Also included are a number of legal documents pertaining to the restitution process.

During the Second World War, the Nazi authorities plundered archives, books, and art works from major collections in the occupied countries as well as from victims of oppression within Germany. A tiny portion of the plundered archives contained military maps and information. However, the great majority were meant for libraries and museums that were to be created after the German victory.

The victorious Soviet troops seized many archives, books, and art works from Germany. Some were parts of long-standing collections of German institutions. Others had been taken by the Germans from foreign countries and Holocaust victims. Although some of the seizures (e.g., of maps and battle plans) were for lawful Soviet military purposes, most were apparently intended from the beginning to be held for reparations. However, neither Holocaust victims’ property nor archives of Allied governments could be proper candidates for retention for reparations. The illegitimate nature of the Soviet seizures led to a long period of secrecy about Soviet holdings. When this secrecy began to lift, the USSR and later Russia found itself in an inexcusable moral situation. At the same time the Russian archivists faced severe resource shortages, which hindered efforts to take inventory, preserve the plundered archives, and prepare for their return.

By the early 1990s, as Grimsted chronicles, nationalist sentiments in Russia led to the passage of legislation that made more difficult the return of cultural valuables. She uses the word “displaced” (in quotes) to describe these treasures. As I have discussed with her, I am not happy with this word choice, which is far too mild to describe such actions as the criminal Nazi and Soviet plunder of Holocaust victims’ property. Nor is it an accurate translation of the self-serving term used in the Russian legislation of the 1990s, peremeshchennye (relocated), a word lacking the implication of “in the wrong place” that is inherent in “displaced” (as in, e.g., “displaced persons”).

Each of the chapters on the return of individual archives (to France, to Belgium, to the Netherlands, to Luxembourg, and to the Rothschild Archive) tells a story of complex negotiations. On the West European side, they show a variety of approaches, including some very skillful diplomacy. Occasionally principled disagreements arose. Undoubtedly, for instance, the taking and retention of the records of German forces that had occupied the Netherlands was a lawful act of the victorious Allied armies. However, whether such records belonged to the first Allied country to take them (the Soviet Union) or to the Allied country that they most concerned (the Netherlands) was less clear. Russian authorities generally settled such disputes unilaterally and in their own favor.

On the Russian side, the reader sees well-meaning archivists working under a boorish and miserly government. The results included such inexcusable actions as the release of the Rothschild Archive only on payment of a king’s ransom in the form of a collection of letters between Tsar Alexander II and his wife. The Russians also successfully demanded payments of numerous “expenses” as a condition for return of twice-stolen goods. Unfortunately, much or all of this money never reached the destitute Russian archival institutions.

This short review cannot do justice to the incredible detail in each of the chapters of the book. A relatively small typeface and copious footnotes have allowed Returned from Russia...