On Networks in Ostforschung and the Distribution of Looted Media

Provenance Research in the Library of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies

Abstract

Between May 2022 and April 2024, the library of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg was searched for media which were looted under National Socialist rule. The library comprises the holdings of two predecessors. The Südost-Institut existed already under National Socialism, whereas the Osteuropa-Institut was a product of the Cold War. The leading personnel in both institutes was active in ‘Ostforschung’ before as well as after 1945. Therefore, this paper on the one hand embeds the results of provenance research in an analysis of personal contacts among ‘Ostforscher’, on the other hand it explains the interdependence between the results and Nazi foreign and occupation policies.