Berlin library returns books stolen by Nazis

Berlin's state library handed back 13 books stolen by the Nazis to the Jewish community as the German government pledged to redouble its efforts to return plundered cultural treasures. The emotional ceremony came about thanks to a new drive to research the provenance of state holdings with the aim of restitution, German Culture Minister Bernd Neumann said. "The 13 books being returned today preserve the memory of the Berlin Jewish community which was decimated and its members murdered or driven out," Neumann said. "That is why such projects are so important now and in the future." The books returned at the event, held in the Centrum Judaicum cultural centre at Berlin's New Synagogue, included 19th and 20th century novels, history books, poetry collections, travel guides and bound newspaper volumes" - AFP