Today, Library and Archives Canada announced the recent acquisition of a rare 1944 book previously owned by Adolf Hitler.

“It is fundamental for a national institution like Library and Archives Canada—and other memory institutions around the world—to acquire, preserve and make available documents no matter how controversial or contentious they could be. It allows us to educate and to advocate for the most complete historical record possible. The truth of history is woven from many sources, and it is only when history is presented in its entirety that it can support the free exchange of ideas that lies at the heart of a democratic society.”

Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada

“This invaluable report offers a documented confirmation of the fears felt so acutely and expressed by so many Canadian Jews during the Second World War: that the Nazis would land on our shores and with them, the annihilation of Jewish life here. While these fears may seem unfounded given the geographic distance of Nazi Europe to Canada, this handbook offering detailed statistics of Jewish populations across North America underlines their nightmarish potential.”

Rebecca Margolis, Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program, University of Ottawa, and President, Association for Canadian Jewish Studies

• • The book is written in German, though many names are in English.
  • The author of this book, Heinz Kloss, was a noted German linguist whose specializations included German speakers living in the United States.
  • Kloss visited the United States in 1936–1937.
  • Kloss had contacts amongst Nazi sympathizers in the United States.
  • Kloss was responsible for producing official and scholarly information used by the Nazi regime.
  • Kloss was the head of the Publikationsstelle Stuttgart-Hamburg that dealt with research on nationality issues, particularly in the United States.
  • This book was part of a confidential series and was for official use only.
  • The owner of this book, Adolph Hitler, was a prolific reader and book collector. Although his collection was never inventoried, reports estimate the number of books to have been between 6,000 and 16,000.
  • This book was likely brought to the United States as a war souvenir, as thousands were taken by American soldiers from the Nazi leader’s alpine retreat outside Berchtesgaden in the spring of 1945.
  • We acquired the book from a reputable Judaica dealer who had obtained it as part of a collection owned by a Holocaust survivor.
  • Other libraries in North America with books once owned by Hitler include the Library of Congress and Brown University Library.
  • The book will be preserved in the Jacob M. Lowy Collection where other important items related to Holocaust remembrance reside.
  • Library and Archives Canada hopes that this book becomes a tool for Holocaust remembrance and for fighting Holocaust denial.
  • A recent American study suggested that two-thirds of American millennials could not identify what Auschwitz was and that 22% of American millennials have not heard of the Holocaust or were not sure if they had heard of it. These statistics reaffirm the importance of preserving the memory of the Holocaust.

Associated links

• International Holocaust Remembrance Day event

Richard Provencher
Media Relations
819-994-4589 
bac.media.lac@canada.ca

Attention media : contact Richard Provencher for a link to video footage of a conservator handling the book.