Abstract:

The YIVO (Yidisher visnshaftlekher institut), founded in 1925 and run from New York from 1940, preserves the largest collection on the history and culture of Eastern European Jewry. After the destruction and robbery of the institute in Vilna by the Nazis, only fragments remained, which were recovered at various locations after 1945. In her essay, Bilha Shilo describes the restitution history marked by the early beginnings of the Cold War: the successful rescue of holdings from the American occupation zone in Germany is juxtaposed with the failed repatriation of collection items from Czechoslovakia. The competing claims of the YIVO and other institutions for the material Jewish heritage of Europe are also revealed.

Publisher's Version