Russian Public Library in Belgrade

Abstract

The Russian public library that existed in Belgrade between the two world wars was the second-largest Russian library outside of Russia. It began its life as a modest library of the All-Russian Union of Cities. Its expansion was after 1928 when it came under the supervision of the newly established Russian Committee for Culture. It survived the Second World War, during which it took the title of the largest Russian library outside of Russia. The library officially stopped working after the liberation of Belgrade from the German occupation and the takeover of the Russian House building by the Soviet Union. The rich collection of the library slowly disappeared till the eighties of the last century.
This paper aims to draw the attention of librarians and the general public to the institution that represented one of the important factors of the cultural life of Belgrade until the end of the Second World War.