English: Library of the Daugavpils D. K. A. 9732 (House of the Red Army). A “House of the Red Army” was a cultural institution whose function it was to serve the cultural, educational, and recreational needs of Red Army officers and soldiers. They existed in cities all over the Soviet Union and were renamed Officers’ Garrison Houses in 1946. This stamp comes from the library from one of these “houses” in Daugavpils, a city in southeastern Latvia. The first House of the Red Army appeared in 1921, but Daugavpils and the rest of Latvia not part of the Soviet Union at that juncture. Latvia was occupied by the Soviets from 1940-1941, after which the Germans occupied it. Therefore, this stamp could only have conceivably come into existence in the one-year period of the Russian occupation.

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 here The digitized scrapbooks are available here and here.


For more information on this project check the Center’s blog: 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 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, Reference Services Research Coordinator, and Melanie Meyers, Senior Reference Services Librarian for Special Collections, for managing and creating the digital map; and Reference Services Intern Ilya Slavutskiy for his work on translating and mapping.

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