Author: Robert Břešťan, HlidaciPes.org, Czech republic
The Czech National Library is one of those targeted by an international gang that has stolen rare editions of Russian authors such as A. S. Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol as part of its European theft campaign. Rare books disappeared in 2022 and 2023 also from national and historical libraries in Estonia, Finland, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Poland and Switzerland.
Last year, the National Library in Prague welcomed guests who only pretended to be interested in Russian literature of the 19th century. The reasons for their visit were much more prosaic: they also came here to steal.
“The National Library of the Czech Republic – like many other important European memory institutions – is part of an international police investigation,” confirms library spokesperson Martina Košanová.
From the collections of the Slavic Library
The international gang was arrested by police in a coordinated operation in several European countries. The extent of the damage is still being ascertained.
“In total, this criminal group is believed to be responsible for the theft of at least 170 books, causing financial damage of approximately €2.5 million and other incalculable social loss,” the European Police Office Europol said on its website.
Rare books disappeared in 2022 and 2023 from national and historical libraries in Estonia, Finland, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
“Prague criminalists are investigating the case. Two books were stolen in their entirety on the territory of the capital city and six other works were devalued because the perpetrators removed several dozen pages from the books and replaced them with forgeries,” Richard Hrdina, spokesperson for the Prague Police, confirmed.
The Czech National Library did not specify which books were stolen and which ones were damaged by removing only selected passages. “The subject of the investigation are Russian-language titles from the collections of the Slavic Library,” library spokeswoman Martina Košanová said.
Neither she nor the police – given the ongoing investigation – would comment on the details of the circumstances under which the books disappeared and how the library discovered the thefts.
Legalisation through auction houses
Four Georgians were arrested during a joint Europol operation in Georgia and Latvia at the end of April this year, followed by other suspects in Estonia, France and Lithuania.
The thieves focused mainly on Russian writers and first editions of their works; most often it was books by A. S. Pushkin or Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The books were then put on the market through auction houses in St Petersburg and Moscow. “It is very difficult to prevent isolated attacks from international organized crime, even though the National Library of the Czech Republic has been systematically securing its premises and collections for a long time,” Košanová says, adding that new security measures have been taken as a result of this case.
For example, the rules for researchers to enter the library premises, the conditions for borrowing documents and the records of borrowing are newly regulated. “We will not further specify the other security measures adopted – with regard to their functionality and effectiveness,” she adds.
