# The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries & the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance

Anders Rydell discussed his book, the story of the systematic pillaging of Europe's libraries by Nazis during World War II, and the small team of heroic librarians now working to return the stolen books to their rightful owners. Through extensive new research, Rydell reveals the untold story of how the Nazis began to compile libraries of their own that were used to wage an intellectual war on their enemies. In this secret war, the libraries of Jews, communists, liberal politicians, LGBT activists, Catholics, Freemasons and other opposition groups were appropriated for Nazi research and used as an intellectual weapon against their owners.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2017
- By: Library Of Congress
- Genres: War
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021690635/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021690635?play=1)