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This article deals with the private library of the Jewish merchant, Max Pinkus (1857–1934), which was confiscated and put up for sale by the Nazis in 1936. Founded at the end of the 19th century, it specialized in Silesian history and was known as the ‘Schlesierbücherei’ by researchers from all over the world. Through three rare documents from this destroyed collection, the author reconstructs their journey as objects in time and space as well as the contexts they traverse after the dismantling of the collection and reflects on the evolution of their status and meaning.