Germany to return 500 books to Belarus

The books that were removed from Belarus during the Great Patriotic War will be returned to Belarus in a ceremony in the National Library on 17 June, BelTA learnt from the Embassy of the FRG in Belarus.

The Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum the Free University of Berlin are retuning 500 books and magazines in Latin, German, French, Russian, Belarusian ad Ukrainian published in late 19th – early 20th centuries. These are mainly the books and magazines on botany published in the period from 1824 to 1940 in different European countries. The books on biology and botany were brought out to Berlin in 1943 during the Second World War. Initially the books belonged to the libraries of Belarus, most of them to the Gorki Academy of Agriculture as evidenced by the inventory stamps on the books.

One more edition which once belonged to Belarus will be given back by Eberhard-Karls Tubingen University. The rare edition, the Hydrographic Atlas of the Russian Empire, 1832, was taken out from the destroyed library of the Belarusian Water Committee in Minsk.

Attending the official ceremony will be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the FRG to Belarus Gebhardt Weiss, Belarus Culture Minister Pavel Latushko, commissioner for coordination of international programs of the Free University of Berlin Prof. Dr. Werner Vдth, director of the library and archives of the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum of the Free University of Berlin Prof. Dr. Hans-Walter Lack, director of the National Library of Belarus Roman Motulsky, representatives of the diplomatic corps, ministries and agencies of Belarus. 

Source: BelTA