Page - 189 - in Guido Adlers Erbe - Restitution und Erinnerung an der Universität Wien

© 2017, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847107217 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737007214 Thisseemstobringtoaconclusionalongdrawnoutaffair;Icanonlysay:ithasbeena pleasure onmy part, although the european part of the dealings was not quite as pleasurable as itsAmericancounterpart. Thepreparations for theopeningof the librarywill takequite some time: I canquite readilyunderstand that youare rushingaway fromtheGeorgiaheat and fromaffairs waitingtobeattendedto. Iamdeeplyappreciativeofyourdecisiontokeepthe library asaunit. As Ihavealreadymentioned inmy last letter, itwouldbeofgreatadvantage to round outthelibrarywithletters,manuscriptsandotherdocumentspertainingtotheperiod, inwhich the scienceofexactmusicologycame intobeing. Forabout50yearsmyfatherhadcollectedlettersofimportance; thiscollection,which contains letters fromBrahms, Bruckner, Strauss,Mahler, RomainRolland andmany otherswerekept togetherwith themanuscriptsofhisbooksandpapersetc.Afterhis deaththesethingswere„takenover“bytheMusicDepartmentoftheAustrianNational Library andput under the „custody“ of a Professsor LeopoldNovak [sic], a former pupilofmyfatherandhardenedNazi(ifthereeverwasone).Hehasnevertriedtodeny myownership,butmaintainsthatthesepapersareofgreat importancetothe„cultural life“ofVienna.Thisisnottrue,however,asthesepapershaveinternationalinterestfor the studyofmusicologyofmy father’speriod. Now the librarywill be kept together as aunit, the chances ofwresting these papers awayfromNovak[sic]aremuchbetter. IaskedaColonelwhowasleavingforViennaa fewdaysago, tocontactmy lawyer there.HardenedNazisunderstandthe languageof themilitaryquitereadily. IamnotaskingyoutogototheStateDepartmentagain,but shall keepyou informed. Thevolumeofthese lettersetc. isquitesmall, something like26smallgrocerycartons. Youmightask:„whydidn’tyoutrybeforeandwhydidn’tyoutellmebefore?Wemight havegotten thewhole thing inonewallop!“ This unfortunately was impossible because of the argument put up by Prof. Novak [sic].Now thatwehaveaGuidoAdlerLibrary in theU.S. and thatwehave erected a precedent, we can demand that the letters and manuscripts be sent here for im- plementationof the library.410 ZusätzlicheBewegungkamindieAngelegenheit,alsHubertJ.Adler imJuli1950 direkt–diesmal erfolgreich–beiBundespräsidentKarlRenner intervenierte– dieser war selbst einmal Bibliothekar der Reichsratsbibliothek gewesen und hattedenTitel einesGeneralstaatsbibliothekars a.D.: Die Staatsuniversitaet desAmerikanischenBundesstaatesGeorgia hat die Bibliothek meines verstorbenen Vaters […] übernommen und beschlossen, dieselbe als eine EinheitunterdemTitel „TheGuidoAdlerMemorialLibrary“zukonservieren. 26KartonsmitBriefenundManuskriptenwurdenvonNazisindieMusikabteilungder OesterreichischenNationalbibliothekverschleppt,wo sie sichnochbefinden.AlsAl- 410 UGL,Hagrett RB&ML,Manuscript and Photographs, GuidoAdler Collection,MS 1336, Guido Adler collection – acquisition, 1948–1955. Schreiben Hubert J. Adler an Hugh Hodgson, 13.7.1950. RaubundRückgabederBibliothekunddesNachlassesGuidoAdlers 189 Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND 4.0