Collection of rare Russian books stolen from Warsaw library

Dozens of rare Russian books from the 19th century were stolen from the library of the University of Warsaw, whose director, Anna Wolodko, was fired, the university announced on Tuesday. These “personnel decisions” are linked to the “theft of several dozen items” from the library, the university said in a press release.

“One of the readers left blank covers and copies in place of the original publications,” said the dismissed library director, Anna Wolodko, in a statement published on social networks, adding that approximately 80 books were thus stolen. “We suspect that the thefts were carried out on request. All the stolen publications are in Russian,” added Anna Wolodko, emphasizing that they were “Russian editions from the 19th century.” “These types of works appear in the offers of auction houses and antique stores operating in the Russian market,” she said, adding that the value of the stolen items was “very difficult” to estimate. .

She also said the library had reported the theft to the police and taken “all necessary measures” so that an investigation could shed light on the thefts.