Our Library

If you’re interested in the Nazi era in Munich and Bavaria and would like to do some in-depth research, our library is the place to go

Search our holdings in OPAC

What our library offers


Our library holds more than 8,000 media ranging from standard works on the Nazi era to biographies, novels, magazines, graphic novels, and illustrations. Our wide range of publications covers the rise of Nazism, the Nazi era itself, and subsequent history.  

We also have more than a thousand Nazi-era books and magazines that you can use for special research projects.

Our library is a member of the Association of Memorial Site Libraries (AGGB).

Information

Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 7pm

Entrance free of charge

Search for books
You can search our holdings in
OPAC.

Order books
bibliothek.nsdoku@muenchen.de

All information on your visit

Reference library, research, and lending

You can research our holdings via our own catalogue and also via the Bavarian Library Network (BVB).

The reference library in the Learning Center in the basement contains around 3,000 books and a number of current periodicals in open-shelf access. You are also welcome to spend time in the library reading the Munich Documentation Center’s own publications.

The remainder of the books, especially those dating from before 1945, are kept in stack rooms. If you would like to order books from the stack rooms, please send an e-mail to bibliothek.nsdoku@muenchen.de stating your reason for ordering the book(s). When you order a book, please always give the shelf mark from the OPAC. Ordered books can be read only in the library.

Reserved books will be deposited in the reference library by arrangement once a week (usually on Wednesdays) and can be read there. You cannot take these books out of the building or order them through an inter-library loan.

There are four media tables in the foreground. On the right are touch screen terminals and on the left the reference library bookshelves.

The Learning Center and reference library, 2017 | © NS-Dokumentationszentrum München, photo: Connolly Weber Photography

The Library of Burned Books

On May 10, 1933, many books and writings outlawed as “un-German” were burned by Nazi groups. The burned books included works by Jewish, Marxist, pacifist, and politically undesirable writers.  

Examples of these burned books can be seen in the display cases. They are from the collection of Georg P. Salzmann, which is kept at the Ausgburg University Library. This library has made part of the Library of Burned Books available to the Munich Documentation Center for the History of Nationals Socialism on permanent loan.

“The Library of Burned and Banned Books” is written on a glass wall. In the adjacent display cases there are a number of book covers.

The Library of Burned Books, 2017 | © NS-Dokumentationszentrum München, photo: Connolly Weber Photography

The covers of books by Lion Feuchtwanger, Alfred Döblin, Bruno Frank, Hans Fallada, Max Mohr, and others are shown in the display cases.

The Library of Burned Books, 2017 | © NS-Dokumentationszentrum München, photo: Connolly Weber Photography

Our Learning Center

Our Learning Center offers both analogue and digital resources. Here you can do research on the Nazi era and find out more detailed information on selected topics.

Find out more