Klassik Stiftung Weimar restitutes books to heirs of Julius Wahle | stumbling stone laying ceremony in Dresden

Thirteen books formerly owned by the literary scholar Julius Wahle have been restituted by Klassik Stiftung Weimar. In agreement with the heirs, two of the books were returned, while the rest were officially donated to Klassik Stiftung Weimar, thus legitimizing their presence in the holdings of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek. To mark this act of restitution, commemorative cobblestones known as Stolpersteine were installed in Dresden on 23 September 2022 for Julius Wahle and four of his family members murdered in Auschwitz.

While researching cultural assets seized by the Nazis in the Klassik Stiftung’s holdings, it was discovered that the Thüringische Landesbibliothek Weimar (ThLB) had received a book donation from Julius Wahle in September 1936; of the donated works, it was possible to identify 13 volumes.

The literary scholar Julius Wahle (b. 15 Feb. 1861 – d. 7 Nov. 1940) was of Jewish origin. He worked as a research assistant at the Goethe and Schiller Archive beginning in 1886, and was its managing director from 1920 until his retirement in 1928. Julius Wahle’s donation to the ThLB was made in direct connection with his departure from Weimar in September 1936; according to the Washington Principles of 1998, the Klassik Stiftung has classified the donation as a result of Nazi persecution. In the following years, Julius Wahle lived with his niece Elsa Hirschel and her family in Dresden, where he died of natural causes in November 1940. His niece, her husband, and their two sons were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.

In accordance with the Washington Principles, Klassik Stiftung Weimar works with the heirs in such cases to find just and fair solutions. Determining the legal successors was a lengthy process, as Julius Wahle himself had no children and the majority of his more distant family perished during the Holocaust. Only one niece was able to escape persecution by fleeing to the US, but she passed away there without descendants or a will.

It was only with the help of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe that relatives could be traced. With the Commission’s help, the niece’s family tree was reconstructed and next of kin were identified as heirs.

In the spring of 2022, the foundation reached an agreement with the heirs on the return and partial donation of the books. In addition, Klassik Stiftung Weimar sponsored the embedding of the stumbling stones (Stolpersteine) in Dresden for Julius Wahle and his four family members murdered in Auschwitz.

The installation of the Stolpersteine took place on Friday, 23 September 2022, in front of Wiener Strasse 85, the former home of Julius Wahle’s niece in Dresden.