NuoFlix (Buchbesprechung DE)
Bibliothekszensur in Münster! Der lange Schatten der NS-Vergangenheit?
Wisnewski Aktuell #09
Aug 6, 2025
In this episode of Wisnewski Aktuell, author Gerhard Wisnewski reports on a remarkable incident at the Münster City Library: His book was issued with an official warning. The text read:
"This is a work with controversial content. The content of this work may not be compatible with the principles of a democratic society. This copy is provided on the basis of freedom of censorship, freedom of expression, and freedom of information."
Wisnewski challenged this measure legally – successfully: In the second instance, the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled that the library must remove this warning.
During his research, Wisnewski discovered that this incident is apparently not an isolated incident. Rather, there are expert debates in the German library world about how to deal with so-called "right-wing works," such as within the Professional Association of Information and Library Services (BIB). Its professional journal, BuB – Forum Bibliothek und Information (Library and Information Forum), features titles such as:
"Difficult Handling of Books from Right-Wing Publishers"
"Libraries in the Right-Wing Cultural War"
Such articles encourage library staff to classify certain books, label them critically, or reconsider their presentation. A comparable discussion about "left-wing works," however, is not documented.
Another point: The Association of German Librarians (VDB), in which management staff of public libraries also participate, has a historically troubled past. During the Third Reich, the then VDB was an active participant in the Gleichschaltung (coordination) of the library system:
Gustav Abb, VDB chairman, declared at the annual conference in Graz in 1939:
"There has been no upheaval in history [...] that recognized the power of books and libraries more clearly and utilized them more extensively than National Socialism."
VDB board member Joachim Kirchner appeared at the 1933 Librarians' Day in SA uniform and described the book burnings as:
"necessary work of destruction."
According to the current VDB, at least 65 members lost their positions during the Nazi era due to their Jewish origins or political opposition.
The association was dissolved in 1945 and re-established under the same name in 1948. Academic literature has repeatedly criticized the fact that this re-establishment largely occurred without addressing the Nazi past.
📌 In this interview, Gerhard Wisnewski analyzes:
the specific Münster case and the now legally binding court decision,
the current expert debates on the evaluation of "right-wing literature" in libraries,
the historical role of the VDB during the Nazi era and its reception in contemporary research.
🎥 Watch now – well-founded, source-based, and highly topical:
How free is access to information in public libraries, really? And where does the political evaluation of books begin?
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