Yale Library announces the Return of Nazi-Looted 12th-Century Manuscript to Poland
Yale University Library has announced the transfer of a liturgical manuscript known as the Cistercian Collectar (Beinecke MS 883), from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library to the Republic of Poland.
The formal transfer of the manuscript was held in the Gates Classroom in Sterling Memorial Library, where Marta Cienkowska, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, signed the agreement on behalf of the Republic of Poland. Cienkowska thanked the library for its cooperation in the restitution of the manuscript and its commitment to provenance research.
Michelle Light, director of the Beinecke Library and associate university librarian for Special Collections, said, “We are honored to return this manuscript to Poland. I hope this act will strengthen our shared commitment to ethical stewardship, and deepen scholarly and cultural collaboration.”
Also speaking at the event was Beinecke Library curator Agnieszka Rec, who works at the intersections of medieval studies, the history of science, and material history, especially in the paleography and codicology of early books and manuscripts. Earlier in the day, the Polish delegation received a tour of Beinecke Library and viewed highlights from the library’s Polish literary collections.
The Cistercian Collectar dates to the 12th century and served Polish clergy and scholars for centuries as part of the library of Ląd Abbey, of the Seminary Library in Poznań, and, on loan, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków. From 1926 until at least 1937, the Collectar was held by the Archdiocesan Archives in Poznań. Following the annexation of Poznań by German forces in 1939, the Archdiocesan Archives suffered a chaotic dispersal of its collection, as did other confiscated libraries in the occupied territories. The manuscript, which was reported as a war loss in 1966, reappeared on the London rare book market in the 1990s.
Given the broader context of the systemic confiscation, dispersal, and/or destruction by Nazis of Polish cultural heritage, the library agreed that the Republic of Poland’s account of the manuscript’s unauthorized removal from the country was the most likely explanation. The library decided, based on the unique facts and circumstances of this case, to return the manuscript to Poland.
Main Image: The Cistercian Collectar in a close-up view