File:Seal of the Rabbi of Riga S. Pukher (23609705084).jpg

Solomon Pukher was born in 1829 in Vladislavov, a town then in the Russian Empire. It is currently in modern-day Lithuania and is called Kudirkos Naumiestis. He was educated in Georgenburg (modern-day Jurbarkas, Lithuania) and later at the rabbinical school in Vilna. In 1859 he became the community Rabbi of Mitava (current-day Jelgava, Latvia). At this post he fought tactfully against Christian Protestant movements aimed at converting the Jews of the Courland Governorate (of which much of Latvia was then a part) as well as contributed much to spreading Jewish religious teachings among the Jews of the region. In 1893 he was selected to be the community Rabbi of Riga, the capital of modern-day Latvia. He stayed at this post until his death in 1898.
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.