The Censorship of Books in the Library of “Ştefan cel Mare” National College from Suceava (1860-1990)

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting the censorship of books and documents at the library from the first high school from southern Bucovina – Griechisch-orientalische kaiserlich-königliche Obergymnasium in Suczawa, a typical high school in which German was the tuition language, founded by imperial decree on the 30th of June 1860, today known as Colegiul Național “Ștefan cel Mare” from Suceava. This study is based on original archive documents, previous studies on the topic and documents from the school library. Relying on historical research approaches, the phenomenon of book censorship is analysed during all political regimes that succeeded in the nearly 160 years of existence of the school library. The paper points out to the restrictions imposed during the Austrian rule (1860-1918), the cleansing and even destruction of the most valuable books belonging to the Romanian heritage during the totalitarian regimes after the Great Union of 1918, the reorganization of the special collections, the restriction of the public accessibility to certain titles. This paper, alongside previous ones on the same topic, is meant to contribute to the understanding of the complex phenomenon of censorship in Romanian libraries.