Jeffrey Hamburger on Ehrle/Obhof: Die Handschriftensammlung

http://www.blb-karlsruhe.de/blb/images/2008/presse-mediumaevum-hamburger.pdf

Hamburger has reviewed the book for “Medium Aecum”. Excerpt:

“The five essays in this book document a sorry episode in the history of German cultural policy and politics. They also serve as a salutary warning that without proper vigilance even public collections of great historical importance are at risk of falling under the auctioneer’s hammer. Im September of 2006, word was leaked to the press of a plan, hatched in secret by the government of Baden-Württemberg, to sell off many of the most important manuscripts in the possession of the Badische Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe, in order to raise 70 million euros on behalf of the house of Baden, which, it was said, required the funds in order to maintain its principal residence, the former Cistercian monastery at Salem. It appears that the government of Minister President Oettinger had not reckoned with the ensuing public outcry, which quickly became international in scope and extended far beyond the usual scholarly circles.”

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