German National Library
The European Library
Goethe Institute - The German National Library
Goethe Institute - Controversial Name Change
Even if these three websites contain more than enough information to give a short overview, I still found it interesting to read the following article
A virtual National Library for Germany.
It not only deals with the historical aspects of the “German National Library”, but also with its tasks, responsibilities and achievements. I first came across this article when I was searching through the EbsoHost database in the Swinburne Library. As the article wasn’t available as a full text, I kept on searching and found it on Google as a PDF file.
It was only in 1912 when the the Deutsche Bücherei based in Leipzig was founded. The task of this first German national library was to collect, catalogue bibliographically and make available (free of charge) German and foreign-language literature published in Germany and German-language literature published abroad. Of those works printed before 1913, approximately one third cannot be found in any German library. Why is that so? - “Germany” simply didn’t exist as a political body in the modern sense of the word before 1871. On the political map of 18th-century Europe it resembled a patchwork of more than 300 sovereign territories, constituting as a whole the so-called Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Under these circumstances, quite a number of libraries in the numerous German territories accumulated substantial collections, but none of them was ever charged with the task to act as the German national library. The Deutsche Bücherei flourishes in the following decades, but in 1933 it is made subordinate to the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. NSDAP offices are introduced to monitor measures for enforced cultural and spiritual conformity. From 1937 so-called undesirable literature is listed and kept under lock in the Deutsche Bücherei. After the air raids on Leipzig and fire damage to the Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig, the building is closed for use from January 1944 onwards. Around 1.6 million books are removed. One year later the Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig is re-opened. With the division of Germany into four zones, the Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig loses its position as the sole central archive library. In the western zones of Germany, efforts to rebuild book trading and library institutions soon centre on Frankfurt/ Main. In 1946 the city of Frankfurt agrees to support the planned archive library with personnel and financial resources. The US military government gives its approval. The library is officially given the name Deutsche Bibliothek. There are now two libraries in Germany, which assume the duties and function of a national library for the later GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. Two national bibliographic catalogues appear, which are almost identical in content. In 1970 the Deutsche Musikarchiv is established in Berlin as a department of the Deutsche Bibliothek. Charge is taken of the collections of the German Musik-Phonothek and its activities are continued. With the re-unification of Germany in October 1990 the Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig, the Deutsche Bibliothek Frankfurt/ Main and the Deutsche Musikarchiv Berlin have been unified under the name the Deutsche Bibliothek. On June 29th 2006 the "Law regarding the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek" came into force and the name was changed into Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library).
