50. évfolyam, 2004. 3. szám

Archívum

The article investigates the ideology-driven book withdrawal policy in Hungary from 1945 to 1950, presenting also the attitudes and motivations of librarians carrying out the actions.

In 1945, the city authorities ordered the Metropolitan Library to seize all books and journals suspected of reflecting fascist, anti-Soviet and anti-democratic ideology. Senior staff at the library reacted according to their own interpretation of the order. They were hoping that through the exemptions of the measure, they would be able to save much of the collection and even keep a few of the titles confiscated from branch libraries. The exemption was that two copies of the banned books could be kept for documentation purposes.

After the first wave of withdrawals, the collection of the central library was reduced by 10,307 volumes. Further disputed titles were withdrawn from the card catalogues only: in this way, the books were not available for the readers, but at least they did not have to be destroyed. Withdrawn books and journals were sent to pulping plants by the police.

However, in 1946, an eager librarian prepared a concrete book withdrawal list to be used by branch libraries. This list went beyond the direct political interests and enforced broader ideological considerations. In 1947, all banned books of “suspicious ideology” as well as all journals and newspapers published between 1920–1944 held in the central library were convicted to immediate destruction. Despite the chief librarian asking the mayor of Budapest to intervene against the destruction of valuable scientific journals, these periodicals were pulped.

The withdrawal campaign culminated in 1950 when it became a procedure controlled by the state. The ministry of culture prepared book withdrawal lists for various types of libraries. Eventually all books were banned that presented the values of civil society in an attractive way. Many classical authors, the literature representing the life of countrymen, as well as religious books were also discarded. As a result of the country-wide elimination of books, approximately 54, 000 volumes were withdrawn from the collections of the Metropolitan Library of Budapest, which meant that two thirds of its previous collection ended up in the pulping machines.

Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Észrevételek