I am researching an article about the lost books of the Chachmei Yeshiva of Lublin (Poland). Did any of these books end up in the U.S.?

A general search revealed ZERO hits in the NARA holdings, however the folks at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum may be able to help you: Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin / [text, Andrzej Trzciński ; translated by Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska ; edited by Ellen Kellman]…

Ms. Finkelstein,

We searched the Ardelia Hall Collection, which has been digitized through our partnership with Fold3 and can be searched on the Holocaust Collection portion of their website at https://www.fold3.com/browse/115/.

Unfortunately we could not locate any reference to the Chachmei Yeshiva within the Hall Collection’s most likely records series, the Wiesbaden Property Cards, which are part of Record Group 260, Records of U.S. Occupation Headquarters, World War II.

That does not necessarily mean there are no records so we encourage you to check this resource for yourself. A description of the Hall Collection is available here -- https://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/international-resources/nara. The digitized microfilm is available on Fold3, a commercial partner with the National Archives. To view these records without paying a subscription fee you will need to visit a library, archives, or other institution that has an institutional membership. The interface takes some work to get accustomed to but once you learn it you will find it to be very nuanced.

There are additional records on site at the National Archives at College Park, MD that may have information. We suggest glancing at our Holocaust Assets Finding Aid here -- https://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/finding-aid -- and e-mailing our reference staff at archives2reference@nara.gov , where your query will be given additional attention. Relevant records might also be found in Record Group 59, Records of the U.S. State Department, or Record Group 84, Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State. Unfortunately information most readily found online states that the U.S. embassy followed the Government of Poland-in-Exile to France in September, 1939 and Chachmei Yeshiva’s library was burned by the Nazis some time in 1940.

Another resource could be the Library of Congress, which played a significant role in receiving, organizing, and returning collections of books.

Best of luck with your article. If we do help you in some way, we at HistoryHub would love a follow-up!

Compiled by Alex Champion, with input from Megan Dwyre and Rebecca Collier