Library of Contemporary History

The Library of Contemporary History (German: Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, abbreviated BfZ) is one of Europe's largest special libraries for contemporary history, situated in Stuttgart, Germany.

The library owes its existence to the First World War; it was founded in 1915 as a private collection by the coffee substitute entrepreneur Richard Franck in Berlin. After the war the then-called Weltkriegsbücherei opened to the public in Stuttgart. In September 1944, the library (located in Rosenstein Castle) was almost completely destroyed in an Allied air raid. The Weltkriegsbücherei was renamed Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte in 1948. Since 2000, the library is a department of the Württembergische Landesbibliothek (Württemberg State Library).

The library's collection focuses on military history, as well as civil wars, the history of genocide and state terrorism, foreign affairs, security policy, and peace and conflict studies. The collection currently consists of more than 400,000 books and 480 subscribed journals.

The Library of Contemporary History has an ongoing digitization program. It published numerous publications and organizes regular public lectures.

Special collections

The collection of books and periodicals is complemented by three special collections:

  • Zeit der Weltkriege (Era of World Wars from 1914 to 1945) includes photographs, posters, leaflets, and archives of personal-documents such as memoirs, diaries, and letters from combatants and civilians of both World Wars.
  • Marine (Naval Archive) comprises a collection of around 500,000 photographs of warships and merchant ships from all over the world between 1850 and 1990, as well as a collection of naval history with marine charts, construction drawings, blueprints and text documents (torpedo reports, war diaries, manuscripts, etc.).
  • Neue Soziale Bewegungen (New Social Movements) focuses on the domestic political disputes in the Federal Republic of Germany since the 1960s (including student movement, peace movement, anti nuclear movement). The collection comprises the so-called grey literature (journals, brochures, leaflets) as well as posters.

Own editions

  • Schriften der Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte / First series Volume 1.1962 – 28.1990;
  • Schriften der Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte / Second series Volume 1.1993 – 27.2013
  • Chronology of the War at Sea: 1939–1945 / Jürgen Rohwer ; Gerhard Hümmelchen. – 3. revid. ed. London: Chatham, 2005, ISBN 1-86176-257-7;
Online Ressource: Chronik des Seekrieges 1939-1945. Revised edition. Stuttgart: WLB, 2007 ff.
  • Brill's Encyclopedia of the First World War / ed. by Gerhard Hirschfeld; Gerd Krumeich; Irina Renz. - Leiden : Brill, 2012. - ISBN 978-90-04-23376-8

Secondary literature

  • 100 Jahre Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte: 1915 – 2015 / Christian Westerhoff (ed.). - Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, 2015, ISBN 978-3-88282-080-5
  • 1914 - 1918, Orages de papier : les collections de guerre des bibliothèques / ed. by Christophe Didier; Christian Baechler. – Paris : Somogy, Éd. d'Art; Strasbourg: BNU, Bibl. Nat. Univ., 2008, ISBN 978-2-7572-0225-8, ISBN 2-85923-036-X

References

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