This post may not surprise other librarians or bibliophiles. While on vacation in Germany this past month, I paid a visit to the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) in Leipzig.
I first shared this with a colleague who remarked he thought the national library was in Frankfurt am Main. Well, he is not mistaken. The German National Library has two branches, one in Leipzig and a second in Frankfurt. The current institution traces its history to 1912 with the founding of the German Library (Deutsche Bücherei) in Leipzig. The division of Germany following World War II led to the establishment of the German Library in Frankfurt in 1946. Essentially, there were two German national libraries: one in East Germany and one in West Germany. With the reunification of the country in 1990, the institutions were merged but retained locations in both cities.
Each branch holds special collections. One can find the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 in Frankfurt, while the German Music Archive and the Anne Frank Shoah Library reside in Leipzig.
