File:Latvian SSR Yiddish Theater (23203809700).jpg

English: After the Soviet Army occupied the Republic of Latvia it renamed the territory the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR) – it was a region that saw heavy fighting throughout the Second World War as control of the region was traded between the Soviets and the Nazis. As new Soviet Republics were established it was common to see a variety of state-sponsored cultural organizations developing, though these organizations often corresponded to particular religious or ethnic groups. In the Soviet republic Jews were considered a nationality, and Yiddish was treated as their national language. Yiddish Theater played a prominent and important role in the cultural lives of Jews in Eastern (and Western) Europe, thus making it little surprise that the Latvian SSR would sanction a Yiddish Theater. When the Nazis invaded Latvia in July of 1941 they set about destroying the Jewish population, including its cultural organizations such as the Yiddish Theater from whence this book stamp comes.

This book stamp is from a book looted by the Nazis and sorted by Colonel Seymour Pomrenze, one of “the Monuments Men,” at the Offenbach Archival Depot.
There are two scrapbooks of archival markings from the books sorted at the Offenbach Depot in the Seymour Pomrenze Collection held by the American Jewish Historical Society (Call number P-933) There is a finding aid for the collection http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=1463157 The digitized scrapbooks are available http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1666403 and http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1665570.
For more information on this project check the Center’s blog: http://16thstreet.tumblr.com/tagged/Offenbach-Depot
Dr. Mitch Fraas, Acting Director of the Digital Humanities Forum at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries' Special Collections Center is working on a similar project for the German book stamps based on NARA microfilm of the volumes the American Jewish Historical Society currently holds. See http://viewshare.org/views/mfraas/offenbach-bookplates/
The Center for Jewish History would like to acknowledge the following: The American Jewish Historical Society, who graciously allowed the use of their archival materials and digital content; Mitch Fraas, Acting Director of the Digital Humanities Forum at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries' Special Collections Center, for his data and technical assistance in this project; David Rosenberg, Senior Manager for Communications, and Melanie Meyers, Senior Reference Services Librarian for Special Collections, for managing and creating the digital map; as well as Reference Services Librarian Zachary Loeb and Reference Services Assistant Ilya Slavutskiy for their work on translating and mapping.

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