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Germany welcomes back priceless books lost in second world war
by applewood

    The works, which were thought to have been irretrievably lost, included rare medieval manuscripts, early 15th-century prints, historical maps and the 19th-century illustrated bird books from the library of the celebrated German ornithologist and explorer Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied.

    Michael Herkenhoff, the curator of manuscripts and old books at the University and Regional Library of Bonn (ULB), described the return of the works as “a huge surprise”. It is the largest return of lost books in the library’s 200-year history, as well as one of the largest single returns of cultural items lost in the war.

    “We need to clean many of the works, and to repair and catalogue them anew, but this is a luxury challenge to have because we really never thought we would see these volumes again,” Herkenhoff said.