Rare find at Downtown Library

In September 2008, a hand-bound booklet, very old in nature, of 96 pages was discovered in the Downtown Library garage in a Donations box placed out by the Book Sale Committee.The item was included with several pieces of old sheet music in a brown paper bag. Judi Patrick identified the item as a “1942 directory from Paris, France, German or perhaps Nazi.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles was contacted and the papers were mailed to the center. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center had the following to say: “The Nazis occupied Europe through force of arms and there were many incidents of the German Army’s direct involvement in atrocities. The directory reflects how meticulously everything related to the Nazi Third Reich was organized and recorded.”

The Friend of the Library officially transferred the legal title of the 1942 German Army phone directory from Paris to the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Archives at the Museum of Tolerance on January 22, 2009, as an unrestricted gift. The accession number of the material is #2008-065.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day (April 21), the Downtown Library will host a reception not only to celebrate the finding of this important directory, but also to remember the 833,000 French Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. Rabbi Abraham Cooper over special internet connection will speak about his historic find.