The Library of the Reich Security Main Office and Its Looted Jewish Book Collections

The Reich Security Main Office of Germany's Third Reich, created in 1939, became one of the more significant agents of the looting of Jewish public and private library collections under the Nazi regime. The staff of the agency's library, which included SS men, were directly involved in creating the looting policy, in carrying out the looting itself, and in making decisions concerning the fate of the looted material. Research regarding the Reich's Jewish policy was conducted on the basis of these confiscated collections and ultimately contributed to the legitimization of the expulsion and extermination of the Jews.