Books Behind Bars by Miranda Ward | Giftschrank

The Giftschrank

October 1, 2023 Cynthia Varady

Illustration of a gistschrank. — An illustration for a giftschrank holding pharmaceuticals.

In honor of Banned Book Week, I wanted to take a brief look at a particular type of library censorship, the Giftschrank.

Censorship has been with us as long as there have been people in power who wish to squelch the voice of subversives. From banning dances to limiting what people can wear to eradicating materials and cultures with the burning of books and librarians, censorship takes on many different forms. But what if you wanted to keep visual works, particularly those in the written form, from the general public but still have them available in order to argue against them? What would you do then? Look no further than the Giftschrank.

What is a Giftschrank?

A German compound word stemming from a mixture of ‘poison’ and ‘cabinet’, traditionally Giftschränkeare (the plural of Giftschrank) housed controlled substances in pharmacies and hospitals. Colloquially, libraries, archives, and museums use the term for an area where items of a questionable nature are housed. Usually, a secret reading room is off-limits to the general public, and only those with special, scholarly permission can gain access.

I Read Banned Books Bumper Sticker
by AllThatGlittersIsProse

Book burning, 1933 Germany | Giftschrank — A member of the SA throws confiscated books into the bonfire during the public burning of “un-German” books on the Opernplatz in Berlin.

Shortly after the fall of the Nazi regime in 1945, Mine Kampf (My Struggle) by Adolph Hitler was top on the list of books the Allies didn’t want floating around, but they also didn’t want to destroy copies with a trial by fire as the Third Riche had done. The answer: A Giftschrank.

How the Giftschrank Works

While the internet has made it easier for the public to access works deemed unsuitable by governments, Giftschränkeare are still used in various countries. Although they might not go by the term giftschrank. In most Western countries, we call our book prisons ‘retracted access’, and this censorship usually pertains to underage patrons. While the works kept in these prisons change with society (as we move forward, certain items become less risqué and get removed from behind bars), censorship, in one form or another, is found in almost every library.

The Giftschrank has been around since the 1580s (thank you 99% Invisible for your diligent research) and is probably here to stay, but perhaps it will one day return to its original meaning and simply be a place where we lock up morphine instead of ideas.