WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (JTA) A U.S. commission is looking into whether the Library of Congress has Nazi-looted books in its collection.
“Books came to the Library of Congress after World War II from Europe,” Stu Loeser, the spokesman for the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States, told JTA. “Undoubtedly these books are there.”
Members and staff of the commission met with Library of Congress officials last week, Loeser said.
“They are working cooperatively with us,” Loeser said. “They know their collection better than anybody else.”
Asked if the commission knows whether books looted from Jewish victims are in the library’s collection, Loeser said, “Part of the resolution will be a definitive statement about this.”
He said the questions being pursued include whether any of those books held at the library are from Holocaust victims and whether ownership of the books can be traced.
Helen Dalrymple, a spokeswoman for the Library of Congress, said library officials are “cooperating fully with the commission” in its work investigating Holocaust assets in the United States.
Asked if officials know whether the Library of Congress collection contains books looted from Jews during the Holocaust, Dalrymple said the issue is being investigated.
