Glickman Mark - Stolen words: the Nazi plunder of Jewish books

During the months Ive spent working on this book, I have been blessed with support from many wonderful individuals, and Im grateful to them all.

I thank Phil Hanrahan, an editor with the uncanny ability to look into the mire of my early drafts and find within them the stories I want to tell and the ways I want to tell them. The faults of this book are, of course, my own, but its merits bear the indelible imprint of Phils incredible handiwork.

I am also grateful to Rabbi Barry Schwartz, director of The Jewish Publication Society, whose early enthusiasm and ongoing support for this project were indispensable in bringing this book to publication. Thanks also to JPS managing editor Carol Hupping for her invaluable guidance and unending forbearance; to Ann Baker, managing editor of the University of Nebraska Press and project editor of this book; and the amazing copy editor Debra Corman, without whose keen eye and skilled craftsmanship this book would never have become ready for print.

There were also many individuals who willingly shared their time and insights with me and without whose contribution this book would not have been possible. Heartfelt thanks to Michael Strong, my good friend and invaluable guide to all things books; Robert Ericksen, of Pacific Lutheran University; Devin Naar, of the University of Washington; Aaron Lansky, director of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst MA ; Chaya and Jay Pomrenz; Eli Genauer, Jewish book maven extraordinaire; Walter Lachman; Ursula Behr; Marie Luise de Vries; Jacob Glickman; Shoshana Glickman; David Gilner, of the Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion; Lydumila Sholokhova, of YIVO ; Shoshana Baron Tancer; Corina Remes; Dario Tedeschi; Gisle Lvy and Carlo di Cave of the Unione delle Comunit Ebraiche Italiane; and Ann Brener, of the Library of Congress. I owe special thanks to Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, of Harvard University, and to Dana Herman, of the American Jewish Archives, both of whom regularly and enthusiastically made themselves available to me and the constant barrage of questions I threw their way.

I am deeply grateful to Charles Knapp and the Knapp Family Foundation for their generous support of this project, as well as to the many private donors who helped make its publication possible.

Words cannot adequately express how grateful I am to my parentsRon and Sharon Glickman, Harriet and Joel Katz, and Vicki Nelsonfor their ongoing love and support.

I am especially grateful to my childrenShoshana, Jacob, Kyleigh, and Taylorfor making it all worthwhile.

And above all, thanks to my wife, Caronmy life-partner, my best friend, my rock when things get tough. Her worldespecially her husbandsmiles far more brightly thanks to her many invaluable gifts.