Library of Contemporary History, Research library in Stuttgart, Germany
The Library of Contemporary History (Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte) is a department of the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart. Its reading room holds over 400,000 volumes and 480 journal subscriptions on war history, genocide, state terrorism, and peace and conflict studies. Three special collections cover the World Wars (1914–1949), a naval archive of some 500,000 ship photographs, and New Social Movements.
The library was founded in 1915 as a private collection documenting World War One through various printed materials and documents. It grew over time to become a major research resource covering key events of modern history.
The library organizes regular public lectures addressing military history, civil wars, genocide, state terrorism, foreign affairs, and security policy studies.
The library is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 to 17:00 and is located within the Württembergische Landesbibliothek building. It is primarily designed for research purposes, so visitors should plan their visit according to their study needs.
The Marine archive holds around 500,000 photographs of warships and merchant ships from around the world, dated 1850 to 1990, alongside sea charts, construction drawings and blueprints. Its text documents include torpedo reports, radio messages and war diaries.
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