Why Rare Russian Books Are Vanishing From European Libraries

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) First editions of works by Russian author Alexander Pushkin can fetch well above CHF10,000 ($11,050) – one factor which recently made them the targets of a criminal gang operating throughout Europe, including in Switzerland.

• Deutsch de Darum verschwinden Puschkin-Bücher aus europäischen Bibliotheken Original Read more: Darum verschwinden Puschkin-Bücher aus europäischen Bibliotheke
• Français fr Pourquoi les livres de Pouchkine disparaissent des bibliothèques européennes Read more: Pourquoi les livres de Pouchkine disparaissent des bibliothèques européenne
• Italiano it Perché i libri di Pushkin stanno scomparendo dalle biblioteche europee Read more: Perché i libri di Pushkin stanno scomparendo dalle biblioteche europe
• Русский ru Почему книги Пушкина исчезают из европейских библиотек Read more: Почему книги Пушкина исчезают из европейских библиоте

Last year, the university library in Geneva was the victim of a rare theft: two men managed to get hold of four valuable Pushkin first editions, insured to the value of CHF173,000.

The theft on October 31, 2023, was not an isolated case: first-edition works have been disappearing from numerous European libraries over the past two years. What's striking is how the thefts have targeted Russian classics – especially by Pushkin (1799-1837).

In April this year, European police authority Europol arrested a further four Georgians in connection with the thefts; following previous arrests, nine people have in total been stopped – in France, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

The individuals are suspected of having stolen a total of 170 books with a value of €2.5 million (CHF2.43 million). Some of the books were recovered by police.

Prosecutors in Geneva refused to comment on investigations. Contacted by Swiss public television, SRF, they did however reveal some details of the heist.

Over several days, two men repeatedly requested access to view the same selection of books in the Geneva library. Then, as staff were closing up the library in the evening, they realised that while the men's bags were still there, four Pushkin books had vanished. A Russian-language translation of a Johann Hübner book as well as a translation of Samuel von Pufendorf had also vanished.

Zurich man Cyril Koller, the head of the Koller auction house, says that“such stolen goods cannot be sold in serious European auction houses, which painstakingly check the origin of books”.

The war in Ukraine has also fundamentally changed the European auction market: Russian buyers became rarer after the annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014; since the war in Ukraine they have disappeared completely.

Such works can however fetch huge sums on the black market. Ulrich Schmid, a professor of Eastern European Studies at the University of St Gallen, suspects that the books were not only stolen to turn a profit. They might even have been stolen on commission, he says.

“In Putin's Russia, Pushkin is seen as a symbol of Russian imperialism. It cannot be ruled out that oligarchs are trying to use such books to position themselves as cultural figures in a new patriotic climate,” Schmid says.

The Geneva university library does not want to comment on the theft. Nor does it want to say whether security measures have since been tightened. According to European judicial authority Eurojust, charges are expected to be brought in the coming weeks. Perhaps part of the mystery surrounding the Pushkin pilfering will be solved in court.

Adapted from German by Domhnall O'Sullivan

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