Piper has published a dozen small, handy dictionaries for different historical periods and figures, several written by Friedemann Bedürftig, who seems to be able to create a glossary for almost any subject, for example, the Lexikon Drittes Reich (see RREA 5:232), Taschenlexikon Deutschland nach 1945 (see RREA 5:233, Taschenlexikon Goethe (see RREA 5:118), and Die Aktuelle deutsche Rechtschreibung von A-Z (see RREA 5:35). Their layout and content are intended for the historically inclined layman, and in this case, too, lay readers will find entertaining entries unencumbered by a scholarly apparatus or bibliographies. In the appendix is a short chronology, a genealogy of the Staufers and some references to the standard literature. The volume closes with a keyword index for words and names not given their own entries. With a renewed interest in the Staufers in Germany, the book is bound to sell on the German popular market, but academic libraries can do without it. [wl/rb]

The above first volume was reviewed in RREA 6:286. At that time the comment was made that a comprehensive biographical documentation of SS leaders (for which this volume covered the letters A-B)--let alone of the entire spectrum of important National Socialist personalities--was scarcely a manageable workload for one person. Since no further volume had appeared in nearly three years, the reviewer called the publishers in March 2001, and learned that the compiler is incapable, for health reasons, of continuing his encyclopedia. The publishing house sees no other possibility for its further development. [sh/rdh]

Andreas Kozlik, in compiling a bibliography of his hometown, profited from his training at the Württemberg State Library and from his consequent acquaintance with sources for 3,450 entries. These sources ranged from arcane print material in the state library or newspaper clipping collections at the main state archive to the holdings of the Lutheran community in Murrhardt. He rightly identifies a raison d'être for this specialized local bibliography in the fact that the Landesbibliographie von Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) [Bibliography for the State of Baden-Württemberg] and its predecessors cast too wide a net: they lack many of the minor writings, basically ignore local newspaper articles, and, of course, are not designed to locate excerpts about a given city inside general works. The higher number of Murrhardt entries here, as compared to the LBBW, comes from the analysis of general works, but even more so from the indexing of newspapers, in particular the Murrhardter Zeitung. The issues of this local newspaper from prior to World War II, unfortunately, have only been fragmentarily preserved--due to war damage at the state library but presumably also because of ineffective collecting activity in the city archives. The format of the bibliography follows that of the LBBW while adapting to its narrower focus. The bibliographic details leave nothing to be desired: reviews are distinguished from primary and secondary titles, and the 205 analyzed newspapers and journals are listed in the appendix by year. An index of personal names rounds out the volume. [sh/rdh]

The preface reiterates the story of the difficult birth of the first edition (1990). A planned cooperation with the regional Landesbibliographie von Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) [Bibliography for the State of Baden-Württemberg] did not come to pass, and an attempt to convert the bibliography to a digital format tied up many resources. As a result, the majority of entries are not based on actual inspection of the items but are taken from other bibliographies, such as, in particular, the LBBW. The second edition contains 22,324 entries (6,000 more than the first edition).

Regional bibliographies on the district level are justified only if they offer more titles, or analyze them in more depth, than the larger regional bibliography (in this case the LBBW). The Murrhardt bibliography (see RREA 7:290 above) achieves this for the coverage of newspaper articles. The Ravensburg bibliography, for reasons indicated above, does not.

The bibliography follows the arrangement and scheme of the LBBW, with sections for subjects, places, and persons. Place names that were used before recent district reforms are maintained, with references to their current usage. Overall, there are numerous references and cross-references to place names, a treatment that adds value to the bibliography, in particular for less experienced amateur researchers of local history. Overall, this is a regional bibliography that, in spite of its shortcomings, addresses the needs of that particular user group. [sh/rs]

This encyclopedia, richly illustrated with around 600 color photos of passable quality, is small in format but comprehensive in scope. It contains approximately 1,400 articles covering the northeastern corner of Bavaria and emphasizing the Fichtelgebirge region. (A similar encyclopedia of Thuringia appeared from the same publishing house in 1993, also with precisely 808 pages). The entries go beyond cities to encompass separately named residential areas, and also mountains, bodies of water, natural attractions, museums, hiking paths, and much more. On the other hand, anyone looking for the "famous personalities" mentioned in the foreword will have to search for the proverbial needle in a haystack. It is clear that this encyclopedia is primarily targeted at hikers, tourists, and lovers of the outdoors, since the more extensive articles take special pains to feature attractions, along with their opening times, telephone numbers, and transportation links. The articles offer neither footnotes nor a bibliography. A foldout map would have increased the utility of the encyclopedia. [sh/rdh]

This second volume in a series of bio-bibliographies of Brandenburg scholars from 1506-1713 covers scholars active in the double residence of Berlin-Cölln from 1688-1713. The first volume (see IFB 99-B09-507) covered Berlin-Cölln from 1640-1688. The plan outlined in the first volume foresaw subsequent volumes to cover 1539-1640, and scholars outside the residence for 1506-1640 and 1640-1713. The 60 scholars treated in this volume, including three women, are for the most part court officials, such as preachers, doctors, lawyers, and librarians, as well as teachers and clergy at city schools and churches who contributed to the cultural development of the area. Members of the great cultural institutions founded during this period, such as the Academy of the Arts and the Academy of the Sciences, are underrepresented, and Philip Jakob Spener and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the most important influences on their contemporaries in Berlin, are excluded with a gesture toward other information sources. The biographies emphasize the education of each person and his or her connections with contemporaries, and they strive for comprehensiveness, including works, manuscripts, letters, and literary estates, with holdings as well as citations, and secondary works. The extensive index of names is useful, but there is no index by profession. [sh/ab]

These two small volumes provide brief biographies and more extensive bibliographies for a total of 108 women writers connected with Kassel and North Hesse through birth or residence. The selection of names appears to be derived from S. Pataky's Lexikon deutscher Frauen der Feder [Lexicon of German Women of the Quill] and includes both less significant and once successful but now forgotten writers in all subjects and genres. Although the second volume includes women from the 16th century on, the emphasis is on the 19th century. The bio-bibliographic information seems to be derived mainly from secondary sources and could have been augmented through more thorough research. [sh/ab]

This regional bibliography from the Waldeck Historical Society concerns the former duchy, since 1918 the free city of Waldeck, most of which has belonged to Hesse since 1945. The work treats not only the history of the region, but also its natural features, and includes ca. 13,500 titles from the 17th century to the present (most are from the 20th century). In attention to the literature on historical parts of Waldeck, works on neighboring regions are also included, as are--unusually for recent bibliographies--unrelated titles by authors from Waldeck. Pertinent periodicals as well as newspapers are treated, in addition to monographs. The number of newspaper articles is very large, and not just because of regional inserts. Unfortunately the wide coverage reduces the emphasis that would otherwise be placed on prominent citizens of Waldeck, for example Wilhelm von Kaulbach, the artist family Tischbein, and Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. The quality of the bibliographic information leaves much to be desired: in some cases even pagination is not given. Unfortunately the only index is to authors. To access entries by subject or by persons treated in the entries, the user must leaf through the table of contents. [sh/tk]

Zeise published a large Hamburg-Lexikon (see RREA 6:297) and is publishing a series of smaller regional reference works, of which this lexicon of Rügen is the most recent. It includes about 300 short articles on places, technical terms, and significant people, illustrated with many small color illustrations. Also included are a map and a bibliography of 40 titles. Other titles in the series include: Kleines Lexikon der Hamburger Begriffe [Little Lexicon of Hamburg Terms] (see IFB 00-1/4-406), Kleines Lexikon Berliner Begriffe [Little Lexicon of Berlin Terms], Kleines Lexikon Worpswede und Fischerhude [Little Lexikon of Worpswede and Fischerhude] (planned for 2001). Also recommended are Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmale in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern [Architecture and Artworks of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern] (see RREA 3:166) and the Dehio: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. [sh/ab]

As a result of Coesfeld's 800-year celebration in 1997, two important publications were issued: a history of the city, Coesfeld 1197-1997 [Münster, 1999], and the above title. This bibliography systematically lists 2,099 works--monographs, essays, and articles in newspapers and periodicals. Included also are relevant parts of larger works, and grey literature. All entries have been examined and annotated. Authors, titles, people treated, places, and subject terms are indexed. [sh/mrh]

The Lippe-Lexikon calls itself the first German regional encyclopedia, which is true if one understands "region" to mean administrative units below the level of the federal states and excludes encyclopedias for large cities. Containing over 2,500 references and 500 illustrations, it makes no claim to completeness, scientific method, or market orientation and is compiled from commonly published facts. There are no source or bibliographic references. Although the encyclopedia's stated use is as a contribution to marketing the region to residents, businesses, and visitors, one might question whether it suits its purpose. It will be more useful to teachers, school children, and new residents. Although not examined in this review, a CD-ROM version is available (ISBN 3-935454-01-5: DM 34.90, DM 20.00 with proof-of-purchase for the book), and the information is also available on the Internet at <http://www.lippe-lexikon.de>, preferable because it can be regularly updated. [sh/mjc]

Unlike the massive encyclopedias on great European cities that have been published in recent years, e.g., Felix Czeike's five-volume Historisches Lexikon Wien (see IFB 99-B09-672), this compendium is intended for a broad public of laypersons, not the least of which are the inhabitants of the city of Münster itself. The 1,500 short articles cover (1) individuals associated with Münster; (2) places, especially if they are named after residents of Münster; (3) buildings; and (4) other items and entities associated with the city. The city history provided here is only two pages long; there is an equally brief city chronology; and there are also 20 lists of various types relating to aspects of the city's history and contemporary life, e.g., aristocratic families, sports clubs, as well as the persecution of Jews during the Nazi period. All in all, not a work that one might expect research libraries to purchase. They will no doubt have other, more substantial reference works detailing Münster's historically significant past, such as the three-volume Geschichte der Stadt Münster edited by Franz-Josef Jakobi (Münster, 1993). [sh/jg]

The city of Oberhausen, an old center of the Ruhr mining industry located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has approximately 220,000 inhabitants.

Compared to the city bibliography on Coesfeld discussed above (see RREA 7:299), the present compilation, originally published in 1991 with a listing of about 600 titles, is a slighter work by far. This is not because it is "only" a selective bibliography; instead, the shortcomings have more to do with the method of selection and the way this selection is now presented to the reader. The compiler apologizes that, "unfortunately, most of the titles collected [in this volume] were not present in Oberhausen libraries and archives," and does not specify to what extent he actually consulted the works referred to or simply relied on their mention in other books. It appears to be the latter, suggested by the fact that two chapters on the "bibliographic aids" and "series" he used precede the main bibliographic sections. But if this is the case, why are only volumes 1 through 8 (1983-1990) of the Nordrhein-Westfälische Bibliographie listed, when the author claims the coverage for this new edition extends through the end of 1997?

The bibliography now includes about 1,000 titles, numbered successively in each section. Extent (i.e., the number of pages) for monographs and annotations are absent throughout. The longest chapter (Publications on City History) is broken down into sections for individual city districts and neighborhoods. The following chapter covers bibliographic references to six of the surrounding municipalities. There is an author index and an index for persons, places, and keywords. [sh/jg]

These two small volumes are apparently intended as preliminary work for a comprehensive bibliography of the archaeology of the Ruhr region. The entry for each city consists of an author section and a chronological section; the Essen volume also includes a section on residences of the nobility. The citations are adequate but inconsistent in format, and the preliminary character and small number of citations--290 for Dortmund, 90 for Herne, approximately 350 for Essen--would recommend publication as journal articles, reserving the monographic format for the complete bibliography. [sh/ab]

The compilers have gathered 10,128 citations to literature on the district of Viersen and its localities by reviewing periodicals, library catalogs, and other bibliographies. The entries are organized in three chapters according to the geographic specificity of their subjects (Niederrhein [Lower Rhine], the district, localities), and each chapter is further organized by topic (natural history, history, people and families, etc.). There is an index to authors, but none for titles or subjects--which means one must know exactly where a famous person was born to find relevant information. Nevertheless, this is a carefully compiled bibliography that deserves more than local attention. [sh/vh]

This 16th volume in the series Westfälische Lebensbilder focuses on the early modern church history of Westphalia, presenting nine biographies with extensive bibliographies, arranged chronologically and ranging in time from the late Middle Ages to the end of the Nazi period. Although intended primarily for regional historians, the contributions will interest others as well. The collection includes no names of international renown, but rather those of regional importance that are less researched and excluded from the usual biographical dictionaries. Included in this volume are a chronicler, a legal advisor, a reformer, a sculptor, a headmaster, an historical writer, a court preacher, an architect, and a national bishop; these bring the total number of biographies in the series to 231. A cumulative index such as that in volume 15 would have been desirable. [be/ab]

In this bibliography (appearing in a third edition following earlier versions in 1971 and 1987), the compilers primarily exploit the regional anthologies and periodicals devoted to Wittgenstein, an area located in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is organized in chapters covering general publications and publications on specific topics; approximately half the volume is devoted to individual municipalities. There is no author or subject index. [sh/vh]

The Sächsische Bibliographie, compiled by the Provincial Library of Saxony, now also the State and University Library of Dresden, is the current, ongoing regional bibliography for Saxony. Published annually since 1962 (reporting for 1961) with five-year cumulative indexes, and available online from reporting year 1992 at <http://www.tu-dresden.de/slub/bibliographie/saebi.htm>, it is augmented by the two-volume cumulative bibliography for 1945-1960, Sächsische Bibliographie: Regionalbibliographie für die Bezirke Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt und Leipzig [Saxon Bibliography: Regional Bibliography for the Districts of Dresden, Karl-Marx-City, and Leipzig]. This cumulative work established a partial connection to the retrospective Bibliographie der sächsischen Geschichte, which covers only history and has suffered from shifting reporting periods, never before extending beyond the 1920s. The supplements are based on a card catalog that was previously available only to users of the library and which seems to have been transferred to a database without uniform entries or revision. Titles from 1933-1945 that displayed National Socialist tendencies and were removed from the catalog during the German Democratic Republic period are unfortunately not included. Both the original bibliography and supplements exclude works related to Chemnitz, Dresden, and Leipzig, since these are covered in other publications.

The Sächsische Bibliographie includes a separate section for individual and collective biographies, which are excluded from the Bibliographie der sächsischen Geschichte. These would, however, be highly desirable; even more desirable would be a collected electronic bibliography for Saxony, such as that for Lower Saxony. [sh/ab]

The previous five-year cumulation (1986-1990) of the Sorbische Bibliographie was thoroughly discussed in RREA 1:545, noting in the Original Review that the bibliography holds a unique position as both a regional bibliography (of the Lausitz region) and a specialty bibliography of Sorbian, a branch of Slavic studies. In 1996, Franz Schön--then as now the compiler of the bibliography--introduced its history, goals, and methodology in IFB 96-2/3-368. For that reason, it should suffice here to note the appearance of the next five-year cumulation (1991-1995), all the more so since the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie mistakenly contained a warning (later rescinded) that the Sorbische Bibliographie had ceased publication with 1986-1990 (1994). To the contrary, the lag time between reported year and publication year actually shortened in the most recent edition from four years to three years.

As a supplementary note to the earlier review: the Sorbisches Institut annually publishes a thematically arranged select bibliography in the second issue of its semi-annual journal Letopis: Zeitschrift für sorbische Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur [Letopis: Journal for Sorbian Language, History, and Culture], the entries from which--greatly expanded in number--find their way into the five-year cumulation. The select bibliography is also offered online via the Internet, along with additional Sorbian bibliographic and cultural information, at <http://www.serbski-institut.de/sibibl.html>. [sh/rdh]

The existing Bibliographie zur Geschichte von Anhalt, founded by Reinhold Specht in 1930 and updated through 1990 (reprinted in part as volume 103 of Mitteldeusche Forschungen in 1991), prompted the local historical society of the German state of Anhalt to create a serial two-to-three year bibliography published in special issues of the society's newsletter, Mitteilungen des Vereins für Anhaltische Landeskunde [Dispatches of the Society for Cultural Studies of Anhalt]. It is therefore odd that the new bibliography starts with 1992; not until the third supplement are the years 1990 and 1991 covered. The new bibliography retains the subject groupings of its predecessor, with separate parts for people and places, and is based on the acquisitions of the state library in Dessau and the analysis of magazines and journals (but not newspapers). Each bibliography includes indexes to personal names and to subjects and corporate bodies, with authors indicated only in the issue for 1992-1994. [sh/rb]

IFB has remarked on the felicitous collaboration between the Herder-Institut in Marburg and the corresponding institutes in East-Central Europe in the publication of serial bibliographies with a common system, both in annual print volumes and as a database (see RREA 4:153). The first such effort was the Baltische Bibliographie, then the Bibliographie zur Geschichte Ost- und Westpreußens (see RREA 6:313), followed by the Bibliographie zur Geschichte der böhmischen Länder und der Slowakei and now, the Bibliografie historii Slaska (BHS), complete in 1997 but originally published in 1998 for the 1994 volume. A transitional product that still used the older system of the bibliography published in Warsaw since 1954, this bibliography was not converted to the new system until the 1995 volume, published in 2000. The 1995 volume contains 3,150 continuously numbered entries. German translations are provided for titles in Polish, Czech, and Slovakian. The list of ca. 500 journals evaluated includes references to volumes and issues, and there are indexes for authors, persons treated, geographical entities, and keywords in German, Polish, and Czech.

There has been some confusion about the scope of the merged bibliography among catalogers. According to the introduction, this work continues the Bibliografia historii Slaska and the Schlesische Bibliographie. The BHS is a bibliography of local history. The publishers of the SB, a general bibliography of the region, plan a continuation of that work for 1986 to 1993, which would seem to indicate their expectation of its further continuation, with a narrower focus, in the merged work. [sh/rb]

In the 1930s Shanghai was known as the "exile of the little people," the refuge of last resort for those who could not find entry elsewhere. This collection of essays consists of presentations at a symposium held in August 1997 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the return of 295 German refugees from Shanghai. The essays report on cultural life in Shanghai, the relations of the various populations among the some 18,000 Jewish refugees from central Europe, and the social demographics of the refugee community. Especially valuable is the accompanying CD-ROM containing four annotated historic documents, including the first publication of the list of 14,800 aliens kept by the Japanese alien office dated August 1944. [ab/ab]

Although scholarly interest in courtly society and court culture of the early modern age has been growing by leaps and bounds in the past few decades, it has been hindered by the fact that comprehensive research on servants of the state, or at least biographies for the higher officials, has been quite spotty: relatively good for the southern German areas but insufficient for northern Germany. This work now lays down a good biographical basis for Brandenburg-Prussia in the second half of the 17th century. Following the introduction and lists of sources and literature, the book offers two main parts: (1) a section listing offices and their incumbents; and, most rewardingly, (2) a section of biographies and careers of the office holders. This second section, a good 250 pages in length, contains short biographies of around 360 persons, with condensed data on name, religious affiliation, places and dates of birth and death, genealogical roots, education, career, publications (rare), and a sequential documentation of land ownership, followed by sources and literature. A chronological index to office holders (by office) assists in the identification of individuals. Though the compiler deems short biographies to be a lesser source than comprehensive "servant books," with this handbook he has set a new and solid base for research into the development of the Brandenburg-Prussian state in the second half of the seventeenth century. [sh/rdh]

Although the majority of the Sephardim who were driven out of Spain in 1492 settled in the Ottoman Empire and North Africa, about 5,000 went to Portugal, where they underwent forced baptism. After the Spanish King Philip II became king of Portugal, too, in 1580, "the first forcibly baptized Jews left Portugal and settled in Hamburg about 1590 as Catholics." A community of Jewish emigrants had already been established in Amsterdam; the Portuguese-Jewish community of Hamburg maintained close relations with this group as well as with their relatives in Portugal or in the New World. They also kept Portuguese as their language within the community. Of the three Portuguese cemeteries in Hamburg, the one on Königstraße in Hamburg-Altona is the largest and was placed under historic preservation in 1960. Despite heavy war damage it is the most significant remnant of the Portuguese-Jewish community in Hamburg, which was almost entirely extinguished by the end of World War II (out of a total of 16,973 Jews in Hamburg in 1933, only 647 survived in April, 1945).

The author has succeeded in compiling biographical and genealogical data on approximately 2,500 members of the community on the basis of grave inscriptions (preserved or documented in other sources) for those buried between 1611 and 1878. The entries are organized uniformly: heading with surname and forename (standardized from the Portuguese and Hebrew inscriptions), birth dates (rarely) and death dates according to the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars, genealogy, biographical data from archival and published sources (this section is often missing or scanty but can fill many columns for important individuals), transcription of the Hebrew and Portuguese grave inscriptions with translation, location of the grave, sources, and bibliographical references with the list of abbreviations in the appendix. The detailed introduction treats the history of the Portuguese in Hamburg and Altona; it is followed by 20 plates with black-and-white illustrations. A history of policy toward the Jews in Hamburg during the period of Lutheran orthodoxy has been announced in the same series: (Hamburger Judenpolitik im Zeitalter lutherischer Orthodoxie (1590-1710). [sh/gh]

Although most directories of Protestant pastors start with the Reformation and go to the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century, this one is devoted to a short period, the years 1933 to 1945. This is due to intensified research on this period in both of the largest German denominations in the past few years; the discussion of the use of forced labor in both churches is an indication of this. The present biographical dictionary differs from the traditional pastoral directories (for this region the Kurhessisch-waldeckisches Pfarrerbuch, 1975-1984)--one can tell this by the absence of data of mainly genealogical interest. The directory lists ca. 790 men who served in the Evangelical Church of Electoral Hesse and Waldeck with the following information: dates and places of birth and death; parents; school graduation, university studies and examinations; church offices; memberships (for example, the Confessing Church or the National Socialist Party); wives and children; sources (archival and printed, especially reference works, and--rarely--the pastors' own writings). The long introduction describes the area of the regional church and evaluates the biographical data in terms of social origin, theological development, memberships, war service, publications, etc. [sh/gh]

The substantially expanded new edition of this biographical dictionary was announced for October 1999, but actually appeared in the late summer of 2000, accompanied by a special edition from the Federal Central Office for Politcal Education. The work goes back to the period just after reunification and was first published in 1992, with a corrected edition containing 1,515 names issued the same year (see IFB 93-1/2-027). The current edition, also available on CD-ROM (Berlin, 2001), increases the number of entries to 2,741. The title "Who was Who" does not imply, as is otherwise usual, that only persons who have died are included--many persons who are still living are represented, whether they are still (politically) active or not. Data on people who were listed in previous editions have been corrected and updated, so that there are sometimes abbreviations for two authors of an article. The abbreviations for nearly 100 collaborators are listed along with brief biographical information, and their articles are listed in an author index.

While new information could be added, thanks to better access to archival material, the increase in the number of names can be attributed to the inclusion of new groups (according to the preface, these include Soviet functionaries who had a direct influence on the Soviet Zone or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), persons who were assigned by the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) [Socialist Unity Party of Germany] to the commnuist parties in the Federal Republic), and more persons from opposition circles. The GDR leadership represents the greatest mass of names, but all Protestant and Catholic bishops are included, also a broad selection of functionaries from all walks of life. (Understandably, only the most outstanding representatives could be selected. A number of specialized biographical dictionaries are available: Lexikon der DDR-Stars: Schauspieler aus Film und Fernsehen (see RREA 6:176); Rocklexikon der DDR (see RREA 6:206); Das große Lexikon der DDR-Sportler: die 1000 erfolgreichsten und populärsten Sportlerinnen und Sportler aus der DDR, ihre Erfolge und Biographien (see RREA 7:189). Each article begins with name, psedonym if any, birth and death dates, and occupation or highest function, followed by a chronology of facts in three parts (up to May 8, 1945, up to October 3, 1990, and the subsequent period). The central and longest section is naturally the second. Information on spouses or relatives is included only if it is particularly relevant. The bibliography at the end of the article includes publications and secondary works. In addtion to the index of names, with the persons who have their own articles in boldface type, there are indexes, new to this edition, of pseudonyms and aliases, and places (with the exception of Berlin).

Despite the increase in the number of persons included, the number is still less than the ca. 4,500 names in the Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR 1945-1990 (München, 1996-1997; see IFB 99-B09-540). This is a compilation from available sources without further research. First choice and without serious competition is still Wer war wer in der DDR? (Works like the Biographisches Handbuch der 10. Volkskammer der DDR (1990), see RREA 7:236 above, have a complementary function). Given the continued research and discussion on this period of German history, one can assume that it will continue to be published and updated. There is already a corrected and updated second edition (2001) with the same ISBN and only two more pages. The CD-ROM also corresponds to the latest printed version. [sh/gh]

The National Socialists' Gauleiter [district leaders] have been investigated in single and collective biographies, albeit not completely (see for example Die Führer der Provinz: NS-Biographien aus Baden und Württemberg, Konstanz, 1997, see IFB 99-B09-448). This is much less true of the Kreisleiter, the second-rung leaders in the political hierarchy who had a key role in carrying out National Socialist policy down to the last corner of the Reich. It is not worth presenting this large group in collective biographies, so documenting them in regional directories is surely the most suitable method. This is what the author of the present investigation has chosen, and his work on the area in question, namely the northern Rhineland, is based on archival material (particularly denazification papers, understood broadly) and also on information from descendants and even from two of the three surviving Kreisleiter. The biographical information on the 105 Kreisleiter is given in tabular form with the following organization: entry heading, sometimes with photo (name, district, date and place of birth and death, marital status and number of children, religion and date of leaving the church); chronological data on education and occupation, political activity, memberships, honors, internment or court proceedings, denazification, sources, literature, and source of pictures. The introduction treats (1) the formation of National Socialist districts, appointment, and duties of the Kreisleiter; (2) evaluation of their careers; and (3) information and facts on the three provinces. One could wish for comparable directories for other parts of the current state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as for other German states. One for northern Westphalia, by a different author, is in progress. [sh/gh]

That East Westphalia is one of the most undervalued economic areas of Germany, and that it has been a leader in the last decade among the 83 German Chamber of Commerce districts, is hardly known. The economic areas of the region are covered by the eight chapters into which this bibliography is divided: Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Bielefeld, Gütersloh, Herford, Höxter, Lippe, Minden-Lübbecke, Paderborn. The internal arrangement is comon to all chapters: (1) general titles, (2) comprehensive studies, (3) economic policies, and (4) institutions, followed by four further sections: (5) agriculture and forestry, (6) industry, (7) tertiary sectors, and (8) artisanal labor. Monographs are covered, as is gray literature such as theses, but no newspaper articles or newspaper supplements are included. The ca. 3,000 titles are accessible via the following index components, which unfortunately refer back only to pages and not to item numbers: (1) persons, (2) places, (3) subject terms and corporate bodies. [sh/tk]

Volume 4, whose publication was delayed from 1984 to 1995, was discussed in IFB 99-B09-577 with reference to the history of this work going back to 1923. After a lapse of six more years, the publication of the first installment of volume 5 represents a turning point in the editorial process, which now Klaus Bürger has taken over. Bürger is the most frequently cited among the 50 contributors to the 294 signed biographies contained in this installment. The clear citation practice, and the provision of a genealogical span, provide for a good overview and ease of use. Even though figures of the 20th century constitute the majority of those included, persons of earlier centuries are also widely represented. Volume 5 is scheduled to be concluded with a further installment, which will contain a comprehensive index for the five volumes. The use of this index is indispensable, since each installment covers the entire alphabet. With this installment the Altpreußische Biographie, one of the best regional biographical works in Germany, covers more than 6,000 persons. [sh/tk]

The first volume about the 1,034 delegates and representatives in the state parliaments of the Prussian Rhein province (which also incorporated parts of the present federal states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Hesse) covers the elected representatives from the first state parliament in 1826 until the 33d parliament in 1888. The biographies take the form of the recent, customary standard for parliamentary biographies: name, place and date of birth and death, religion, a portrait where possible, years of membership in the provincial parliament, electoral district, political inclinations, education, profession, residence, political and professional career, and other political offices, including service in other state parliaments. In contrast to most of the other parliamentary biographies, this work offers relatively complete genealogical facts. Archival sources and literary references are noted. [sh/tk]

This lexicon contains 1,585 short biographies of people connected with Trier in the last 200 years. Often this relation is quite tenuous, even purely literary, as in the case of Ernst Jünger, whose connection with Trier is through the protagonist in his story Afrikanische Spiele [African Games]. People of all walks of life are included, but the biographies tend to be superficial, often omitting significant facts. The bibliographies are also disappointing, often consisting of a single citation, leading to a source that provides little additional information other than bibliographic references. The exclusion of unnecessary biographies would have allowed room for more extensive treatment of the essential biographies, as well as for an index, making this a much more useful work. [sh/ab]

In scope and accomplishment this work comes close to the masterful Sozialdemokratische Parlamentarier in den deutschen Reichs- und Landtagen 1867-1933 which was published in a parallel series of the Commission on the History of Parliamentarism. Four hundred thirty-two representatives are covered in short biographies (95 percent with portraits); the detail of these biographies is often very impressive. In addition to the wealth of facts to be found in the biographies there are several useful extras: a sound introduction that outlines the history of the Saxon Parliament, a useful and comprehensive bibliography, and, in particular, an extremely helpful index to the photographs.

However, some improvement would still be desirable. It would be useful for every biographical entry to contain the beginning and ending dates of a representative's tenure in the Parliament. Currently this information often has to be looked up in different parts of the work. It would also be useful for future handbooks in these series to follow the model of the American Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774- , where lengthy chronological overviews of each electoral period provide details such as committee chairs and their tenures, duration of sessions, minutes, etc. This admittedly takes up considerable space, but is of immense help to the researcher. These critical remarks notwithstanding, this handbook is an enjoyable and finely-crafted work. [jl/rs]

It seems as if we are experiencing a boom in encyclopedias of the federal states, which continues that of the city encyclopedias. In both categories one encounters works of highly disparate forms: exhaustive and concise, scholarly and popular, works by a single authors as well as multi-authored works, and occasionally lexicons which are produced by historical commissions and institutions. The author, who has written several volumes on Saxon history and culture, has put together about 2,000 articles in the present work. These articles are very short (between five and ten lines) and without bibliographic references. The strength lies in the biographical articles, which make up two-thirds of the introduction. Living persons are included. Other articles are based on geographical places and points of interest, subjects (which are listed only if they are not connected to a specific place), and finally a few corporate bodies. The articles are a bit problematic due to their brevity. The author lists his sources in a three-page bibliography with an emphasis on biographical sources of information. "Saxons and friends of Saxony," the target group of readers as noted in the introduction, will find much information, to be sure, but whether this information, due to its brevity, will be of great use to them, is doubtful. [sh/tk]

The volumes in this series, Zwischen Wörlitz und Mosigkau [Between Wörlitz and Mosigkau], could have been reviewed under their respective subjects but are treated here briefly. Taken together, they provide a who's who of people active in the respective occupations during the 100 years covered. Famous figures are included, such as Gropius and Erdmansdorff in the architectural volume, but are by no means the primary focus of the works. In most of the volumes, standard biographical information is given, such as name, dates of birth and death, education, and career, with portraits where available. The last two volumes contain much briefer biographies than the others and in some cases lack even birth and death dates. [sh/mm]

After a seven-year hiatus and a change of publishers, this lexicon has now reached its conclusion (see IFB 99-B09-610 for an earlier review). An expansion in coverage to include authors from the Silesian-North Moravian language area explains the delay. Unfortunately, a pre-announced map to help clarify the radical changes in configuration of the Upper Silesian area in the 18th and 19th centuries fell victim to cost accounting, a true loss. The style of the articles corresponds to that of the Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon, to which Heiduk is also a contributor. The widening of focus also resulted in supplements for the first two volumes, listed here in the third, following about 30 pages of corrections and additions to the previous volumes. The final volume, according to the foreword, lists around 1,000 authors, while the supplements contain another 600. Together with the 1,600 articles of the first volumes, the total comes to around 3,200 authors. Pseudonyms are searchable via a concordance at the end of volume 3. [sh/rdh]

This series of 7-10 page biographies of prominent Silesians began in 1922 and published four volumes until 1931. A fifth volume came out in 1968 and a sixth in 1990 (see IFB 99-B09-606.) The current volume offers 60 new biographies, mostly of men (only two are of women) who lived during the 19th and 20th centuries and were well-known in literature, music, and theater, although all influential areas are included. The bibliographies following the individual entries vary in length and relevancy, but are generally shorter than in earlier volumes. Illustrations, where available, are contained in a section of plates. Volume 7 includes a cumulative index of volumes 1-6, which fortunately have been reprinted and are still available. Impractically, however, this index omits the names from volume 7. So far the series includes 377 biographies. Additional volumes can possibly be expected in very loose succession. An earlier projection of eight numbered volumes plus a final volume containing 5,000 brief biographies has apparently been abandoned. [sh/hsb]

This "historical-geographical encyclopedia for Schleswig-Holstein" is rich in black-and-white and color illustrations and maps (some of which are highly miniaturized and less than satisfactory). The editors have directed their work to "inhabitants of Schleswig-Holstein" but also to "outsiders," including both specialists and lay readers. The 1,300 articles cover geography (towns, landscapes, islands), families and individuals (selection criteria are not noted), corporate bodies, historical events, and other topics. The articles are predominantly brief, although large cities (including Hamburg and its surroundings), famous families (e.g., Gottorfer), central concepts (e.g., farms), and topic surveys (e.g., music) are given more extensive coverage.

Many references are not to other works, but only to the mention of a name in other articles. Lesser geographical places are marked only by a red dot on a map that merely outlines the territory and contains no other features, greatly reducing the value to "outsiders." It would have been useful to include a fold-out map of the province showing all the places mentioned in the work. Bibliographic references are often not included or are limited to only a few monographs, essays, or contributions to collections. For example, the article on Lübeck has only one reference to a history of the city.

Of the four audiences mentioned in the foreword, lay readers would be the primary users of this dictionary. However, this is no reason for libraries whose patrons are "outsiders" not to acquire this work.

Of further interest may be the recently published Schleswig-Holstein Lexikon: Politik, Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft, Kultur (Leverkusen, 2001). [sh/ga]

The first volume of this important bibliography appeared in 1994 and covered the literature about the Germans of Russia during the time of the czars. The second volume begins with the Soviet era and brings coverage into the present, including around 8,800 titles. It also offers a lengthy supplement to volume 1. Included are sections on Germans in the eastern parts of the Soviet Union, reflecting the forced migrations of the Soviet epoch, as well as a section on the integration of Russian-Germans into contemporary Germany.

This bibliography attempts to be complete. Included are popular and political as well as scholarly treatments, and formats such as newspaper and periodical articles as well as books. Material on the literature and language of the Russian-Germans is touched on very lightly, since it is handled thoroughly in other bibliographies such as Herold Belger's Russlanddeutsche Schriftsteller [Russian-German Writers] (see RREA 6:118).

This is an impressive bibliographical record of a vanishing culture. The settlement of some of the Russian-Germans in today's Germany adds contemporary interest to this topic. [sh/baw]

The third edition of this work hardly differs in appearance from the second edition of 1997. The text appears to be unchanged, but the indexes have been rearranged and expanded by some five pages. The work begins with a brief general survey of present-day Slovakia, accompanied by rich full-page color illustrations. It is followed by a section on the history of Slovakia in Europe from antiquity to the present. The main section (p. 55-435) reveals itself to be primarily a travel guide, under the heading "Slovakia: Land, People, and Sights." The biographical articles are brief and take up less space than the articles about places, which begin with history but soon give way to describing sites of interest. They conclude with information about the tourist infrastructure and data about the Slovak-, German-, and Hungarian-speaking populations. Karl Kiraly's ink-drawings offer renditions of impressive buildings. The four indexes cover topics, geography (other than places), people, and places. This latter index is divided between Slovak and foreign locations, with a separate listing of Slovak, German, and Hungarian place names.

Although this book is primarily directed toward tourists, it is thoroughly suitable for a library's reference and information needs. [sh/ga]

The Südosteuropa-Bibliographie (SOEB) of the Südost-Institut (Southeast Institute) in Munich is the only international bibliography providing access to the multilingual literature from and about Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia (and its successors), Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Southeast European region as a whole. It covers scholarly literature in the areas of history, politics, economics, the social sciences, law, religion, language, literature, culture, art, and ethnography. It is a cooperative effort of the libraries of the Südost-Institut and the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung (Institute for Austrian Historical Research) in Vienna. Monographs are culled from national bibliographies of the region, essays and articles from journals and international subject bibliographies.

This volume introduces several changes from previous practice. First, the coverage period has been expanded from 5 to 10 years (1971-1980). Second, beginning with this volume covering Romania, each country will be represented by its own volume (except Hungary/Slovakia and Southeast Europe/Albania, which will each share a volume). Third, for language studies and art history, coverage will concentrate on monographs and reduce the listing of essays and articles, referring users to existing subject bibliographies. For Romanian language studies, users are referred to the Romanische Bibliographie [Romanian Bibliography] and to The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies (although the Modern Language Association International Bibliography might have been expected here). For art coverage, users are referred to the Bibliographie zur kunstgeschichtlichen Literatur in ost-, mittelost- und südosteuropäischen Zeitschriften [Bibliography of Art-Historical Literature in East, East-Central, and Southeast European Periodicals]. Aside from these changes this latest volume of SOEB maintains its usual quality.

When this volume was published in 1992, it was hoped that all remaining volumes for the 1971-1980 reporting period would be in print by 2002. Unfortunately, due to chronic staff shortages, not a single additional volume has been issued or even announced since then. For materials after 1981, the editors hope to take advantage of computer technology and the changed political situation in the region to delegate the preparation of citations to indexers in the countries covered, as opposed to having the indexing remain centralized in Munich and Vienna (a practice that originated in the Socialist period when the need to avoid censorship precluded the preparation of citations by subject experts inside the relevant countries). Whether varying conditions in these countries can yet fully support computer-assisted preparation is, however, an open question. For coverage of this region the SOEB is indispensable. No other work provides comparable coverage. Whatever changes may be adopted for the post-1981 period, one can only hope that at least the remaining volumes for the 1970-1981 period will eventually appear with their customary high quality. [sh/jc]

Previous volumes reported on the periods 1984/1988 (1989) and 1989/93 (1996). This third volume contains 2,183 non-annotated citations in 16 broad subject groupings with entries arranged alphabetically by title in each group. There is an author and title index but no subject index, making it difficult to locate materials on a specific subject or country. For libraries with interest in this region this work may be of use to partially fill the gap caused by the great delay in the publication of the Südosteuropa-Bibliographie discussed above (see RREA 7:347). [sh/jc]

These two volumes bring to a close the exemplary series, Südosteuropa-Handbuch, a grand project that began in 1972 under the direction of Klaus-Detlev Grothusen, professor of Southeast European History at Hamburg, who died in 1994. The series' goal was to present "a reliable scholarly analysis of the development of all eight countries of Southeast Europe from the end of World War II up until the date of a volume's publication." The earlier volumes, though describing conditions that no longer exist, have not lost their value, for the information they contain is vital to an understanding of the current situation. This statement applies primarily to volumes 1 (Yugoslavia, 1975), 2 (Romania, 1977), 5 (Hungary, 1987), and 6 (Bulgaria, 1990), all of which are still available, indeed at substantially reduced prices. Volume 3, on Greece, appeared in 1980, and volume 4, on Turkey, in 1985--demonstrating the wide coverage of the project, which did not limit itself to the Socialist block.

The current pair of volumes were the hardest to compile: in Albania's case because of its decades of strict isolation from the rest of the world; in the case of Cyprus because of the irreconcilable enmity between the two halves of the country, which resulted in some authors withdrawing from their commitments because of perceptions that the series editors were too sympathetic to viewpoints different from theirs. Apart from minor deviations, however, the structure of previous volumes has been maintained: (1) basic information (geographical and historical background); (2) political development since World War II; (3) political and judicial systems; (4) economy; (5) society; and (6) culture. For Albania, 28 authors from 5 countries contributed; for Cyprus, 36 authors from 6 countries. Contributions are in German or English and include graphics and maps. The appendices in both volumes contain timelines, overviews of government organizations, information sources for international treaties, and short biographies of significant politicians, as well as international bibliographies with German translations of Albanian, Greek, and Turkish titles. The Cyprus volume also contains summaries of election results and information on labor unions and other organizations. Name and subject indexes are provided, along with colored maps in pockets.

The Südosteuropa-Handbuch will long maintain its place among information sources for libraries. Smaller handbooks that can be more easily updated are available for covering the constant changes in the region. [sh/crc]

The Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek [Lower Saxony State Library] has so far produced three multi-volume catalogs on one of its special collecting areas, namely German culture in Eastern Europe (the two previous catalogs are entitled, respectively, Katalog des Schrifttums über den deutschen Osten [Catalog of Publications Dealing with the German East] and Katalog des Schrifttums über die Tschechoslowakei [Catalog of Publications Dealing with Czechoslovakia]). The first two volumes of this catalog for the Danube region were published in 1987 and 1993; the division into five volumes has resulted in a certain complexity.

Almost all of the publications listed in these volumes are in German. Monographs as well as articles in periodicals are covered. Beginning with volume 3, works from the State Library's old catalogs Historia Austriaca [Austrian History] and Historia Hungariae [History of Hungary] are included. Organization is according to subject groups, with each designated by a letter. The index of volume 3 has entries under authors' names and, for anonymous works, under titles, but no title entries for works by known authors. The indexes for volumes 4 and 5 include entries under all titles as well as under authors' names. The catalog will meet the needs of users who have a reading knowledge of German, who are not intending to do in-depth research, and who do not know the native languages of the countries covered in the catalog. [sh/crc]

The following description should tell it all: 53,342 consecutively numbered, analytically indexed titles of monographs and articles (from over 1,000 systematically canvassed periodicals) on the relations between Poland and the German-speaking lands from the 10th century to the present; primarily but not exclusively in the vernacular languages; with entries reflecting publishing from the beginning of the 20th century forward (but also very important titles from 1880 on) and complete bibliographic data (lacking only the publisher names); annotations of content; translation of Polish titles; listings of relevant reviews; precise organization in eleven chapters, and accessible by several reliable indexes. This impressive accomplishment from the University Library of Thorn is a monument to the well-known and excellent bibliographic tradition of Poland. Each chapter opens with its own foreword, containing user tips and exposition of helpful features; each chapter closes, notably, with additional bibliographic sources for relevant personalities. The fact that this master example of a bibliography is appearing in print (and not merely as a digital publication, which would have been possible given the local database from which it was derived), and furthermore at a reasonable price, can be credited to the Robert-Bosch Foundation--which has proven its mettle in the realm of German-Polish relations--and to the Nicolaus-Copernicus University of Thorn. [sh/rdh]

The beginning and end of the time period covered by this bibliography were determined by events of war: the First World War, near the end of which German troops occupied Byelorussia, and the invasion of German troops in 1941. The cultural relations between both countries, fortunately, were not totally focused on these events. Otherwise the compiler would not have been able to assemble this comprehensive, systematically organized bibliography of nearly 3,700 titles. The policy of the German Empire during occupation had been to pay heed to the national interests of the Byelorussians, including the use of the local language in schools, newspapers, books, etc. This contrasts with the time of the Russian Empire (following the Polish partitions), when culture was impeded by a ban on use of the Byelorussian language. Due to political relations after the Peace of Riga in 1921, when the western part of the nation was ceded to Poland and the eastern was integrated into the Soviet Union, the bibliography naturally also had to include titles about the relations of Germany with these adjoining countries. The volume has a basic structure of three chapters (source editions and reference works; culture and history; politics and economics) each of which is then further subdivided into smaller units, so that the number of entries per subdivision remains surveyable. The longest of these is on literature, e.g., Byelorussian translations of German literature and vice versa. An appendix offers supplements to all chapters and subdivisions. There is no subject index, but one for secondary authors and one for primary personalities. Two further volumes are planned for this bibliography: volume 2 is to contain documentary materials, while volume 3 will house a scholarly survey of relations between the two countries. [sh/rdh]