Jewish intellectuals between robbery and restitution: Ernst Grumach in Berlin, 1941-1946

Between 1933 and 1945, the National Socialist regime carried out an unprecedented destruction of Jewish culture-a carefully arranged plunder of millions of Jewish cultural assets from private and public libraries, archives, and educational institutions. This article illuminates the ambiguous role played by Jewish intellectuals both in that programme of robbery and in post-war Jewish A forced labourer in the library of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) in Berlin from 1941 to 1945, Grumach later played a key role in the restitution of Jewish books and archival materials. Drawing on the still largely unknown documents he wrote between 1941 and 1946, this article reveals remarkable details about Grumach's work for the National Socialist regime and for Jewish restitution organizations. It also offers a unique insight into the earliest controversies and debates onJewish cultural reconstruction in the wake of the Holocaust.