The Holocaust and the Book: Destruction and Preservation

Chapter X - Library and Reading R oom in the Vilna Ghetto, Strashun Street 6

X • LIBRARY AND READING ROOM IN THE VILNA GHETTO, STRASHUN STREET  Herman Kruk Translated by Zachary M. Baker GHETTO LIBRARY AND GHETTO READERS September , –September ,  F AFTER the Ghetto Library’s first year of existence, we present this compilation as a historical document about a momentous and difficult time.1 Our compilation is not only an annual report; it has an additional objective: to cast the ghetto reader into bibliopsychological relief. A special type of reader has emerged from the fabric of our surrounding environment —from recent events and experiences. That is what is of greatest interest to us. Cultural work requires peace and quiet. Our period of reporting has unfortunately been anything but a peaceful one. Nevertheless, we are not waiting for historical perspective but are attempting in the heat of the moment to analyze and outline certain observations and peculiarities and draw some conclusions. Our publication was produced using primitive means—unfortunately, they are all that we have at our disposal. If our objective has at least in a certain measure been achieved, that is thanks only to the hard work and tireless efforts of all library staff members. Vilna Ghetto October  A Y’ W   V G L Some Prehistory In order to analyze more precisely the sequence of problems of readership in the ghetto, we feel that it is necessary to introduce a bit of prehistory. The present Ghetto Library, formerly the Mefitse Haskalah Library, was founded in  by the Society for the Dissemination of Enlightenment among the Jews of Russia [Hevrah Mefitse Haskalah].2 Over the years, it managed to acquire several large book collections. In , Fayvush Krasner took over the directorship of the library , and thanks to his tireless work Mefitse Haskalah became the largest Jewish library in Vilna, in terms of both the number of volumes in its collections and the quantity of books circulated to readers. From the standpoint of the book collection ’s significance as a Jewish library, Mefitse Haskalah ranked far from the top—foreign-language books comprised a solid majority. The , volumes included in the library in September  were as follows: Yiddish, , volumes; Hebrew, , volumes; Polish, , volumes; Russian, , volumes; Lithuanian , German, French, English, , volumes; total, , volumes. (For precise details, see table .) What was being read during the last ten to twelve years? With the exception of –,3 approximately , volumes were being read annually. Fiction comprised over  percent of the books circulated, according to content. By language, the breakdown was as follows: In , . percent of the books read were in Yiddish; Hebrew, . percent. By ,  percent of the books read were in Yiddish, . percent in Hebrew. And later on, the two languages combined amounted to less than  percent of the total number of books circulated.4 The library used to serve an average of , subscribers (with the exception of –, when the number of readers rose above ,). By age,  percent of readers were younger than ; fewer than  percent were older than . By gender , women comprised a slight majority (by about  percent to  percent). It should also be noted that when we came into the ghetto, none of the library’s previous staff remained. The first staff member to be seized was the director, Fayvush Krasner ( September ); then Mgr. Balosh was taken away; and the third to depart was Y. Blokh. The rest were scattered among various forced labor sites. At that point, the library resumed its activities with a completely new staff. Mefitse Haskalah as Ghetto Library In the first days of September , the Mefitse Haskalah Library lost about  percent of its book collections. The first breach in the library’s completeness occurred when the German occupiers took away , volumes (in French, English, and German).5 At that time, the main card catalog, with its , cards, also was removed. In conjunction with the sad events of that period, some , of the highestquality volumes went astray among the readers.6 Approximately , volumes were lost during the days when the Jews were driven into the ghetto (– September ). The library’s quarters were then completely unsupervised, and the newly arrived ghetto residents held sway within it. Qualitatively speaking, that is how the best and most popular books were lost from the library. 172 herman kruk On  September, the library was “occupied” and by the fifteenth began its public operations as the Ghetto Library, thereby becoming one of the first public institutions in the ghetto and its first cultural establishment. Thanks only...