Losy biblioteki benedyktynów z Krzeszowa
History of the library of Benedictine monastery in Krzeszów

Summary/Abstract: The former Cistercian monastery in Krzeszów in Lower Silesia, which since the reduction of the Cistercian Order in 1810 belonged to the Prussian state, was purchased by the Benedictines in 1923. The reconstruction of monastic life was interrupted by World War II; in 1940, the compound was appropriated by state authorities and was used as a center for Volksdeutsche from Bukovina (1940–1941), transit internment camp for Jews (1941–1942), cache for book collection of Prussian State Library (Preußische Staatsbibliothek) (1944–1946), accommodation for Hungarian Germans (1944–1945), hiding place for German civilians and soldiers fleeing the advancing Red Army (1945), and as billets for the Soviets (1945). Monks of German origin left the monastery in 1946; those of other ethnicity stayed, including the incumbent prior, Father Marek Lutterotti, who continued the pastoral work. Along with escalation of activities against monastic clergy in Silesia in 1950s, repressive measures against Father Lutterotti also were intensified. The case of the library of the Krzeszów monastery became one of means of this repression. In 1954, the library was appropriated by the Prosecutor Generals’s Office, who accused Father Lutterotti of destroying state property – the library was considered such property stored in inappropriate conditions. The collection was initially handed over to Ossolineum library as a deposit and in 1958 the National Ossoliński Institute (Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich) became the owner of the collection on the basis of Article 2 Section 2 of the Decree of April 17, 1946 on libraries and charge over library collections (DzU, Nr 26, poz. 163) and Article 1 of the Law of January 31, 1951 on transferring to the Minister of Culture and Art the scope of action of the Minister of Education regarding libraries and library collections (DzU, Nr 58, poz. 400).

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