Editing Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad (section)

== The Rebbe Rayatz's Collection ==
At the same time that the book collection was placed in the public library in Moscow in 5684 (1924), the Rebbe Rayatz began to rebuild the Lubavitch library.

In 5685 (1925), he purchased the book collection of the bibliographer and collector R' Shmuel Wiener, a collection that numbered about five thousand precious ancient and rare books, and immediately began to engage in expanding the library and completing it with Jewish books of all types.

In 5687 (1927), he was arrested, sent into exile, released and forced to leave Russia. Initially, they did not allow him to take this new collection with him, but after his firm declaration that he would not leave without the books, permission was granted and he transferred this collection to the new center of Chabad Chassidus in the city of Riga.

From there, he sent letters and notices to Anash (Chassidim) worldwide, urging them to help enrich the "Lubavitch Library" with books of all kinds. This continued after the Chabad center was moved to Poland, in the city of Warsaw and in Otwock.

During his travels, the Rebbe Rayatz never parted from 3 suitcases containing manuscripts, only during his journey to [[Eretz Yisroel|the Holy Land]] in 5689 (1929) did he entrust them to [[The Rebbe|the [future] Rebbe]] when they parted in Trieste, Italy.

At the beginning of [[World War II]], the Rebbe was in Warsaw occupied by the Nazis (may their name be erased) for a period of several months, until late winter 5700 (1940) when he left with his family and secretaries; first they passed through [[Berlin]] to [[Riga]], Stockholm, and from there arrived in [[New York]].

The book collection remained in occupied Poland. Part of it was transferred over a year and a half, by those who worked to move this treasure from place to place through difficult paths during the war, until it arrived in New York at the end of [[5701]] (1941), when the ground floor of the new Chabad center at 770 Eastern Parkway was dedicated to this library.

Another part of this collection was lost for thirty-eight years, and only in 5737 (1977) was it discovered, and following intense activism and effort, it was returned to the library's ownership at the beginning of 5738 (1978).

Another part of the collection was deposited in the American Embassy in Warsaw, but the Nazis looted the embassy, and after the war, the books passed from their hands to the Russian army, which stored them in one of its many warehouses, and for many years their fate was unknown.

In 5757 (1997), a book collector (a Karlin Chassid) found the books in his searches in Russian army warehouses, and according to his Rebbe's instruction, informed Chabad Chassidim. The "[[Otzar HaChassidim]]" organization photographed the books at astronomical cost, but the Russian government refuses to return them to this day, despite repeated appeals from Chabad Chassidus and the American government.