Der Giftschrank. Remota: Die weggesperrten Bücher der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek
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Der Giftschrank. Remota: Die weggesperrten Bücher der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek was the title of a "Giftschrank" exhibition held at the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek from October 2, 2001 until December 17, 2002.
Peeping into the Poison Cabinet
From the English blurb:
From 2 October to 17 December 2002, the Bavarian State Library presents the exhibition Der Giftschrank. "Remota": Die weggesperrten Bücher der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek (Remota. Peeping into the Poison Cabinet). Printed works which at certain times have been withdrawn from the general collection are shown to the public for the first time. Represented are erotic literature, sexological works, politically undesirable literature or publications classified as strictly confidential, such as files of persons wanted by the police.
The Remota Collection held by the Bavarian State Library consists of five parts, the Latin word "Remota" meaning in the literal sense "removed items" or "remote literature".
Originating from 1924, parts I and II comprise erotic literature published mainly between 1920 and 1970, including reprints of classic literature such as the novels of the Marquis de Sade. Serious sexological works are also represented as well as advice literature relating to sex education and marriage guidance.
Remota III was created during the ‚Third Reich‘. It contains books of German emigrants and authors imprisoned by the National Socialists as well as critical evaluations of National Socialist politics in general. Moreover, between 1933 and 1945 approximately 5000 works by Jewish or politically offensive writers were withdrawn from the general collections of the library, which however have been returned to their original locations and are presented in the exhibition as ‚Remota VI‘.
Remota IV contains the ‚Erotische Bibliothek‘ (Erotic Library) formerly owned by the Bavarian revenue officer Franz von Krenner (1762-1818) and acquired by King Max I Joseph for his court library. Krenner collected anything related to love in the broadest sense of the term, including for instance treatises on concubinage law. The erotic works proper had not been recorded in the catalogue before 1966/67, therefore having been absolutely unavailable for almost 150 years.
Remota V finally comprises printed works which from the very beginning had not been considered suitable for unrestricted public use. This includes a great variety of publications, such as the "Landes-Kriminalblatt Bayern" (Bavarian criminal reports), files of persons wanted by the police or manuscripts of Bavarian radio broadcasts.
Nowadays only few works are considered to be ,Remota', e.g. extremist literature of the Right and Left as well as demagogic or pornographic literature. So the heydays of ,Remota' are more or less over. But by illustrating changing moral values and fundamental social change over the centuries, the library's poison cabinet constitutes a treasure of cultural history. In this exhibition, the collection is presented to the public for the first time.
