Cartographic Treasures Destroyed “With Fire and Sword”? The Unwritten Story of the Map Collection of the Bavarian Army Library

Abstract

This paper deals with the unwritten story of one of the largest collections of early-modern military maps in pre-war Germany, its later dispersion to different institutions, as well as the attempts to reconstruct this cimelia or treasured library of the former Bavarian Army, founded at the beginning of the nineteenth century. During World War II most of the maps of the Wehrkreisbücherei VII were stored in several locations outside of Munich, and survived destruction. After 76 years we can reconstruct the unwritten odyssey of this important map collection. One part was integrated into the Bavarian State Library, where some valuable manuscript maps were recently cataloged. The largest section was taken by American soldiers to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., where it was stored for more than a decade. This cache was restored to Germany in 1962, when a political dispute arose between the German State and the Free State of Bavaria that was not settled until 1968. This collection became part of the Wehrbereichsbibliothek VI, located since 1978 at Munich’s Bundeswehr University. Unfortunately, due to political decisions in 1984, this section was relocated to a provincial museum.

Keywords:

• map collections — history
• provenance
• Bayerische Armeebibliothek
• Wehrkreisbücherei VII
• Library of Congress
• Wehrbereichsbibliothek VI
• Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Notes

1 For the life of the Russian map historian Leo Bagrow see Heffernan and Delano-Smith (2014) and Wolodtschenko (2017).

2 Imago Mundi. A Review of Early Cartography 4 (1947), 30–31.

3 The whole story, first presented at the 28th International Conference on the History of Cartography in Amsterdam on July 17, 2019, is documented in the Archives of the Bavarian State (cited here as: BayHStA) and in the archive of the university library in Bundeswehr University Munich (cited here as: Archive UB UniBwM). The author thanks especially the librarians Dr. Cornelia Jahn, Margit Heumüller and Annemarie Kaindl, M.A. (Bavarian State Library Munich), Dr. Maria Mann-Kallenborn, Lothar Karl, Cornelia Freudenberg and Hiltrud Woltz (UB UniBwM), Cheryl Fox (Library of Congress), Dr. Ronald Grim and Dr. Robert W. Karrow, Jr. (both retired), the archivist Günter Deibel (UniBwM), and Prof. Dr. Imre J. Demhardt (University of Texas at Arlington) as well as Dr. Ansgar Reiß and Daniel Hohrat, M.A. (Bavarian Army Museum, Ingolstadt) for further information and support of this research.

4 For an introduction to the history of this library see Genge (1999), Horst (2018a), & Horst (2018b), Robold (1996), Stuhlmann (1929), esp. 346–347 and Wendt (1984).

5 This printed Catalog über die im Königlich Bayer’schen Haupt Conservatorium der Armee befindlichen Landkarten und Pläne (Munich 1832: https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV005487041) was followed by four supplements in 1833, 1848, 1872 and 1877. The first library regulations are by chance preserved in a copy of Kunstmann (1859) in Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Hbks/L 15 k-1.

6 In the course of this study, we found a xerox copy of this valuable catalog: Katalog der Bücher- und Kartensammlung des verstorbenen königl. bayer. Generals der Infanterie und Generalquartiermeisters von Raglovich. In zwei Abtheilungen, München 1836 (now available online: https://athene-forschung.rz.unibw-muenchen.de/node?id=114760). Around 1,600 objects of this library are still preserved. They are easy to recognize as they all bear the lettering stamp Raglovich as well as the (presumably more recent) stamp of the Hauptconservatorium d. K. B. Armee (Wendt 1984, 380 and 398, Taf. 6).

7 The catalog of the Pappenheim collection is missing (Wendt 1984, 382–388 here: 386).

8 The Bavarian Army Museum found in 1879, which also preserved some city plans and a few copperplates, was located in Munich’s main arsenal (Popp 1886, 173–175). This new building was designed by the architects Ludwig Mellinger (1849–1929) and Gottfried Kurz (1866–1935) and was located at the same place where former barracks were constructed, but after a typhus epidemic in 1893 they were demolished (Horst 2018a, 80–81; for the history of the Bavarian army archive, see Rumschöttel 1998, 235–246; Saupe 2010; and Staudinger 1906; for the museum, see Aichner 1983, Habel 1982, and Habel 1988).

9 For the building history, see Fuchs 2005, 8‒24 and Höhn 1998.

10 Compare Jahrbuch der Deutschen Bibliotheken 10 (1912), 60 and Bücher-Verzeichnis der Königlich-Bayerischen Armee-Bibliothek, München: Druckerei des K. Kriegsministeriums, 1913.

11 This declaration Vereinbarung zwischen dem Reiche und dem Lande Bayern über die Bayerische Armeebibliothek, signed on August 12, 1936 is preserved in the German Federal Archives (R 2, Zugg. 55 ff. 5280); a copy of this document can be found in Archive UB UniBwM (see also Wendt 1979, 109). A Wehrkreis was a military district, commanded by a general officer, see also Absolon (1969), 188–189. The new publications that were purchased for the Wehrkreisbücherei VII were announced in a printed catalog, the Verzeichnis des Zuganges an Büchern, between 1937 and 1941.

12 BayHStA, Generaldirektion der Bayerischen Staatlichen Bibliotheken (hereafter cited as: GDION Bibliotheken) Nr. 1612: Letter of Dr. Basler to Bayerische Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultus, dated June 29, 1946.

13 See for instance Destombes (1980), 46 or Kupčík (2000), 10–11: “We cannot say conclusively whether these valuable maps […] were destroyed during the Anglo-American air raids on Munich, simply disappeared from bomb-proof depositories in the Munich environs during the postwar chaos, or were taken to the United States as war booty. Whatever the case, half a century after the end of the war, these cartographic documents have not reappeared.” See also note 17 and Horst (2019b).

14 See note 12: “Zusammenfassend darf ich sagen, dass der Bestand der Bayer. Armeebibliothek an Büchern und Karten […] mit geringsten Verlusten, als gerettet angesehen werden darf“.

15 The first air strike (July 16, 1944) destroyed only the offices of the nearby Bavarian Army Archive (see Fuchs 2005, 26, and the building plan in Staudinger 1906, 234, fig. 2). However, with further firebombs, newer librarian catalogs (that were preserved in a double-protected strong room) burned. Basler originally planned to remove them in 1942, but professionals told him that they were safe, see GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter of Dr. Basler, dated January 18, 1960.

16 Because the upper floors were completely destroyed, Basler asked for permission to work from home. See BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Letter from Dr. Otto Basler to the Munich mayor Karl Scharnagl, dated May 18, 1945.

17 BayHstA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter of Office of Military Government for Bavaria APO 403 (AG-007-GNMCU-8) for the director Major, FA, Henry S. Toland, to Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs in Munich, dated November 24, 1945.

18 BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Letter of Franz Fendt to the Head Office, dated December 14, 1945 (I. 33560 A VI).

19 BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Bi-lingual instruction by Richard J. Jackson, Lt. Col. AUS, Chief Governmental Affairs Branch, dated December 18, 1945 (AG 461 GNMCU-4).

20 Sergeant Kaufmann is probably identical with the German/American Jewish philosopher Walter Arnold Kaufmann (1921–1980), who fled Nazi Germany at the age of eighteen and served as an interrogator for the Military Intelligence Service in Germany, see: https://faculty.gvsu.edu/speara/Walter_Kaufmann_Web_Project/Biographical_Information.html

21 BayHstA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Compilation of the events by Dr. Otto Basler in a letter, dated October 12, 1950.

22 Ibid.

23 The impressment was illegal as a certain Prof. Sturmann was authorized to separate these parts of the library and to transfer them back to the Bavarian State Library in Munich. We know about this because a German assistant called Beilhack found out that the inventory was missing when Lieutenant Schönfeld showed him the empty hall in Freising, see BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Letter from general director Dr. Hofmann to the secretary of education and culture, dated January 11, 1960.

24 Dr. Hofmann corresponded on January 8 with the director of the State Library of Württemberg, Dr. Wilhelm Hoffmann (1901‒1986), who informed him one week later that one stolen part of their collection came back in June 1949 to Stuttgart, see the letters in BayHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612.

25 The art historian Breitenbach, who emigrated to the States in 1937, helped the American administration after the war to protect German historical buildings and assisted with the establishment of the Central Institute for Art History in Munich (founded in 1946). Furthermore, he served as librarian at the High Commission for Germany (HICOG), Cultural Relations Div., Section for Fine Arts, Museums, Libraries and Archives in Frankfurt am Main and Bad Nauheim (1949–1953), where he organized study trips for German librarians to the States. In Berlin he was involved in the foundation of the American Memorial Library (1954), see Library of Congress, Information Bulletin 13/1 (January 4, 1954): 6; 13/9 (March 1, 1954): 7; 13/44 (October 11, 1954): 9–10 and 13/47 (November 22, 1954): 9–10. For his life, see his own memories in Breitenbach (1976), von Busse (1978) and Library of Congress, Information Bulletin 32/26 (June 29, 1973): 229–230.

26 BayHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Hofmann to Dr. Breitenbach (Nr. 302/60; dated February 11, 1960).

27 BayHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Personal letter from Dr. Breitenbach to Dr. Hofmann, dated February 21, 1960.

28 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Hofmann to Dr. Breitenbach (Nr. 389/60; dated March 28, 1960).

29 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Basler to Dr. Hofmann, dated June 15, 1960.

30 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Breitenbach to Dr. Hofmann, dated December 20, 1962.

31 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Fauser to Dr. Hofmann, dated January 15, 1963. For Fauser, see Habermann and Kittel (2004), 41 and Striedl (1988).

32 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Hofmann to Director Lawrence Quincy Mumford (Nr. I, 276/63; dated January 23, 1963).

33 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Director Lawrence Quincy Mumford to Dr. Hofmann, dated March 7. 1963.

34 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Breitenbach to Dr. Hofmann that arrived in Munich on January 28, 1963. On April 25 Breitenbach informed him that another Munich collection of posters, leaflets etc. (Plakatsammlung Rehse, Hauptarchiv der NSDAP) was still at the Library of Congress (Weinberg 1952, 32–39, 42, 53–55 [Appendix 4], 58–60; and Weinberg 1959, 23–24 and 27–29). Parts of this collection are today preserved in German Federal Archives.

35 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter from Dr. Hofmann to the University Library in Marburg (Nr. I, 1140/63; dated April 10, 1963) and reply from Dr. Witte (dated April 18, 1963).

36 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1332: Letter from Dr. Hofmann to Dr. Gisela von Busse (Nr. I, 2076/63, dated August 29, 1963), where he asks if the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft could pay for transportation.

37 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1332: Letter from Dr. Breitenbach to Dr. Hofmann, dated September 15, 1963.

38 Report in the daily journal Abendzeitung (February 11, 1964). In fact, the archival documents preserved in BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1332 only speak of 1,050 boxes (letter from January 15, 1964).

39 BAyHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1332: Report from Mr. Seidt to the head office, dated April 5, 1964. In total, the Bavarian State Library received 237 boxes, including 27 boxes of legal literature, see letter of Dr. Hofmann to the Senator of Bremen (Nr. I, 2484/64, dated September 11, 1964).

40 Wendt directed the Wehrbereichsbibliothek VI between February 1959 and May 1981 (Habermann and Kittel 2004, 201; Genge 1997).

41 Archive UB UniBwM: Notes of Wendt, composed on September 26, 1960.

42 Archive UB UniBwM: A letter from Wendt to the Weiterleitungsstelle. See der Bundeswehr in Bremerhaven (Az: 52-01-10, dated December 7, 1962) which documents that 33 boxes were damaged and a further seven showed a shortfall of around 15%. The value of the whole collection was estimated by the Ministry of Defense at around 250,000 DM (letter of Dr. Hermann to Wehrbereichsbibliothek VI, dated July 19, 1962).

43 Archive UB UniBwM.

44 BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Letter from Lt. Col. Jacob M. Silvey, Reparations, Deliveries and Restitution Branch Chief, dated December 3, 1945 as well as the letter by Jackson (see note 19).

45 BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Letter from Dr. Otto Hipp (1885‒1952) to Fritz Schäffer (1888–1967), the first Minister-President of Bavaria after World War II (Nr. I 14643, dated July 10, 1945).

46 BayHStA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter of Dr. Franz Wenninger to the Ministry of State (Nr. I, 400/45, dated January 10, 1946).

47 Ibid., cf. also BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Letter from the Bavarian Ministry of Culture (Nr. I 35499, dated March 27, 1946).

48 But 21 rooms required structural measures and six additional rooms needed masonry work, see BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Letter of Dr. Basler to the Bavarian Ministry of Culture (dated April 4, 1946, including a plan of the building).

49 BayHstA, Kultusministerium (MK) 66642: Concept of Dr. Basler, dated June 22, 1946. It is assumed that this was a strategical theft.

50 BayHstA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Letter of Director Paul Ruf (Nr. I, 355; dated April 16, 1953).

51 BayHstA, GDION Bibliotheken Nr. 1612: Copy of a letter of Rudolf Konrad to one of the most prominent politicians in Bavaria, Alois Hundhammer (1900–1974), dated December 16, 1959.

52 Compare also the self-published memorandum of Konrad and Bauer (1958). It is interesting to see that no one ever claimed to include the former Bavarian war archive that by 1947 was integrated into the BayHStA (since 1957: Abt. IV Kriegsarchiv), see also Weinberg 1952, 13. This department also has an important map collection, see Horst (2010).

53 Archive UB UniBwM: Agenda of a meeting of Wendt with the Bavarian Minister of Finance, Rudolf Eberhard (1914–1998) on July 17, 1963.

54 Archive UB UniBwM.

55 Archive UB UniBwM. However, Wendt claimed in a letter to the Department of Defense (Az.: 52-01-10/We/ot, dated June 28, 1976) that four people of his staff were on sick leave and asked for more personnel to finish the work within 146 working days.

56 Ehemalige Bayerische Armeebibliothek. Leihgabe der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München. Standortkatalog. 8 vols., ed. in 1977 by Hochschulbibliothek der Bundeswehr München zgl. Wehrbereichsbibliothek VI München-Neubiberg.

57 Archive UB UniBwM: Expertise of Dr. Hans Körner, dated November 10, 1981, who also highlighted that 80% of the stock is historical (before 1850) and so cannot be provided by interlibrary loan.

58 Archive UB UniBwM: Letter of Franz Georg Kaltwasser to the Bavarian ministry of education and culture, dated February 2, 1983. One of Kaltwasser’s closest advisors was the librarian Paul Gleixner who before joining the Bavarian State Library in 1972 had worked at the Wehrbereichsbibliothek VI. From him, we have a Niederschrift über mir bekannte Einzelheiten über die Bestände der Bayerischen Armeebibliothek (dated November 9, 1984).

59 Genge (1983), Ulrich (1983), and Archive UB UniBwM: The War Archive also wrote an expert opinion in 1983, but the Head Office of the Archives of the Bavarian State prevented this letter from becoming public.

60 Archive UB UniBwM: Letter of von Stauffenberg to President Wienecke, dated July 11, 1983.

61 Archive UB UniBwM: Letter of Dr. Mayer to President Wienecke (1790/83, dated July 22, 1983).

62 Archive UB UniBwM: Catalogue, dated June 10, 1983.

63 Archive UB UniBwM: Sign-up list, dated July 29, 1983.

64 Archive UB UniBwM: Certificate of transfer, dated January 16, 1984, see also Bibliotheksforum Bayern 12/2 (1984), 185 and dossier of librarian Gunter Thiemann (record by memory, dated September 20, 2011).

65 Vereinbarung über die Bayerische Armeebibliothek. Vom Mai 1985. Bibliotheksforum Bayern 13 (1985), 303–304.

66 Archive UB UniBwM: Letter of Dr. Stefanie Seidel, dated February 27, 1981 as response to a questionnaire by Dr. Lothar Zögner (1935–2018, map librarian at the Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin).

67 Archive UB UniBwM: Note, dated March 25, 1971.

68 This map was previously inspected by August Wolkenhauer (1877–1915), see Wolkenhauer (1903), 124–127, and Ruge (1904), 19, Nr. 32. Facsimile by Herrmann (1940), plate 3/4. Cf. also Karrow, Jr. (1993), 129–137, here: 131; and Meurer (2001), 71–131, here: 101–102.

69 Ruge (1911), 63, Nr. 37. Facsimile by Herrmann (1940), Plate 10. Cf. also Meurer (2013).

70 Around the same time, Otto Progel (1815–1887) made copies of these charts that are today preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, cf. Kupčík (2000), 35–48 (Kunstmann III & IV), 123–135; cf. also Ruge (1911), 44–46 and 48–50.

71 Karrow, Jr. (1993), 280–282, here: 280, Nr. 35/1.1; Meurer (1991), 159–160, here: 159 and fig. 34. This map is not mentioned in the early map catalogs, so most probably was only purchased after 1877. We thank Dr. Kazimierz Kozica (1965–2019) for more information about this map.

72 Ruge (1911), 71, Nr. 51. Today: BSB, Mapp. XIV, 119s: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/∼db/0011/bsb00114047/images/

73 Ruge (1911), 82–83, Nr. 78. Today: BSB, Mapp. XIX,153: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/∼db/0007/bsb00079460/images. Compare Meurer (1991), 235–236, here: 236.

74 BSB, Mapp. VIII,1 m: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00013293/image_1 cf. Meurer (2001), 349–351.

75 BSB, Mapp. XII, 0 ez: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/∼db/0000/bsb00002959/images/

76 BSB, Mapp. IX,0 h: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/∼db/0011/bsb00114046/images/

77 For the identification of the maps that may have been part of the Bavarian Army Library, the library stamps will be of big help. We would be very interested to know if someone has ever seen these stamps in other libraries. If so, please let the author of this paper know.

78 BSB, Mapp. XII,204 w: https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0010/bsb00108599/images/

79 Catalog (1832), see footnote 5, 50–57. More American maps are listed in the supplements (1833), 7–9, (1848), 22–32, 164–167 and (1872), 10–12.

80 BSB, Cod.icon. 180 uob: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/∼db/0005/bsb00054538/images/

81 BSB, Cod.icon. 180 tb: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/∼db/0011/bsb00111308/images/

82 BSB, Cod.icon. 180 uam: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/∼db/0011/bsb00111763/images/