An elderly Nazi probably passed away. The children probably just took an armful of books to the library without realizing the book was there.
If so, I am glad another Nazi died.

With WWII veterans passing away, I think you will see more of these "discoveries" as they come out of mothballs and attics - and their children have no idea of the historical significance of those little things soldiers picked up during the war. I think we will see more and more items coming to light in the next few years. Most WWII vets are over 70 or 80. My guess is that someone passed away and his children were disposing of the possessions and that was one of them - and they donated it without knowing what it was, or caring what it was.

It's amazing that neither of the first two institutions even caled her back. Great news that another Nazi family member died, though.

After the war, US SOLDIERS stayed behind to clean up. Many of them brought artifacts back home with them. That is probably where this came from, again, his children didn't know what it was, so they donated it. We have some interesting artifacts that my father in law brought back from his time in Germany. Knives, guns, books, etc

You can't sell Nazi memorabilia on eBay. I'm glad it went to a museum where people can be reminded of humanities huge FAIL's, rather than into some neo-Nazi's sicko personal collection.

i know it's history many people wants to forget but it's still historical history. i'm not condoning what the nazis did to jewish people. probably who donated the book was maybe a relative from an american soldier who served during WWII or could have been a relative of a nazi soldier or maybe a german person who immagrated just after the war.

Let's not forget what the Japanese did during WWII either. I just read "Unbroken" and was reminded again of the terrible torture in the POW camps. Why do we never talk about this any more? My guess is political correctness. We still hear about the Nazi's, but never about the Japanese.

Very well said Scotty and so true.

Scotty, in reality the Jewish people were the main target. Others were slaughtered also, but they wern't the target of total extermination. Now we have that Idiot in Iran trying to copy hitler if he gets a chance. The book was a great historic find and hopefully more famlies of WWII vets will look through items before disposing them. History no matter how horrific in some cases should be preserved for future generations.

Billy Gallagher, how do you know it didn't belong to an ex-NAZI. These things pop up now. There were and still are many old Nazis living in the US who came under false pretenses. There are also many WW2 German vermacht vets in this country too that were NOT Nazis. To you disapointment. Many US soldiers who were with the European Theater victors did pick up many such "relics". I know this for a fact because I am a member of the 90th Dividion association that recovered many articles. The 90th liberated Flossenburg Concentration Camp. The camp where the top Nazi generals conspiring against Hitler were imprisoned and murdered along with Dietric Barnhoeffer, who came back to Germany to fight the Nazis pacively. You need to wake up. Stop trying to rationalize that these people could be "good guys" especially when the good guys ended up in the camps .

great historic find ,worth about 5K

skeptic fence ...wonderful post exactly how I feel but couldn't get into words thank you...

As Claudia said, many U.S. soldiers stayed behind to aid in the cleanup efforts, and quite probably brought mementos back home. A soldier who was age 20 in 1945, would be 87 now - and maybe he (or she) decided it was time to donate this artifact to a library to be shared with the public. In any case, it will probably remain a mystery.

billy gallagher,not all americans are republicans,thank god,or warmongers as george genocide bush barrie whitehead

I love history. We are obligated to know our history, even the dark and terrible things. How else can mankind hope to change things for the better. Those who don't know or care about history are more or less doomed to repeat the same mistakes made in the past, and only when we pay attention to the things done before us can we hope to make the world better for those who will one day read our history.

This woman had a good heart and very little greed.She thought of others before herself.Where she could have made a lot of cash for herself but chose to GIVE this book to a place were all may view it. I'd like to think what she did was noble.Not much of that going around these days.Honest,noble,i am impressed.

When I was a kid, (I'm 64 now) my friend went on a vacation to Chicago
to visit relatives. His father John Goring was my scout master in Westminster
California. He (John) was also the nephew of Herman Goring. John was by far NOT a Nazi...he retired from the US Navy and served in WWII. He obviously fought
against the Germans. As a scout master he would show us Black and White
Movies of the Holocast and explain to us how horrible the Jews were treated
by the Germans. It was obvious to us that he was ashamed of his Uncle.
But, as I remember every summer my friend's family would go back to Illinois to
visit his grandparents. Someone from the Goring family, in Illinois must have had
this book at one time or another. I have no idea who is still alive in the family living in the Illinois area. (John Goring's father was the brother of Herman Goring) The Goring family I knew in California were proud Americans.
Patrick Callahan

Well said Scotty. It is plain Ignorance for people to get brain washed in the hype of "all germans were nazis, all muslims are terrorists, all democrats are believers of everything obama says"....etc,etc, and continue to fuel the hatred of historical mistakes and horrors. Education does wonders to STOP the hatred and blame of a few radicals....what about what american's have done with slavery, japanese intern camps, segregation, discrimination....we have not behaved well on many occasions and often only continue to perpetuate hate by misguiding our children into believing that we are better than other cultures. I hear a lot more of americans killing, raping, terrorizing, abusing, shooting at colleges, harming our children, teaching hatred of other races, cultures, political parties, etc...than I ever hear of germans, muslims, etc going into movie theaters, or shooting up political signings...such as Gabby Giffords in AZ. We as Americans should stop selling hatred to our children and teach forgiveness and exceptance......all over the world. Maybe with education we can stop the horrors of history repeating itself. And one more thing.....I may not agree with all of Obama's policies, but if I have to choose between him and Mitt Romney who discriminates against women, I am forced to elect the lesser of 2 evils. I may have lost my job in this recession, but I am sure as hell not going to lose my birth control rights and choices.

I'll bet the German museum and the Illinois museum will start returning phone calls from now on!

In a few years time, the historical enemy would identified as Great Britain. I speak thus seeing the content change in American citizenship over the last so many years.

There are so many parallels between Nazi germany and what is going on in this country. The fawning and impotent media always warning of impending doom, the inside jobs leading to unprovoked invasions, the favoritism given to corporations and mining rights, the glorification of the military and munitions makers, the pharmaceutical growth and exotic technologies, the secret societies and infraguard, the exclusion and outright theft of certain patent and copyright holders, the obsession with nationalism (the last president) and socialism (the current prresident). Read Rise of the Fourth Reich by Jim Marrs, and understand just how the the greatest generation could not be more dishonored.

It still shows that there tools that do not know anything and think they know everything to those folks I feel for you my wife is German and when I visited they are not proud of the time and yes not all where a hitler lovers and many,many, hide Jews !

Judith, My father was also in WWII. He was a medic and when he returned he didn't talk about it neither. I think he once said "It was either him or me" and won't let us know what he was thinking.

A four-year economic plan for a steel factory? I guess that puts the lie to the claim that the Nazis were capitalists. Let's never forget that "Nazi" is an acronym for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, i.e., National SOCIALIST Workers' Party of Germany.

Thank you to this wonderful lady for providing yet another piece of history so that more people can understand one of the causes of this horrible murder of millions of innocent people. I don't feel we should ever forget, to forget is to allow the possibility of this happening again anywhere in the world.

there are Americans who would have made perfect Nazi's. I won't say who they are, sadly, because they don't know that they are the ones. That is, some of you are those perfect little unquestioningly loyal little Nazi's but don't recognize it in yourselves. But here's a test: are you intolerant of other peoples' views or get angry with people who don't think, pray, look, live or speak just like you?

If anyone needed proof that a lack of customer service (the non-returned calls) is everyday,even for the most important things (who would know in advance?).
THink there are any red faces at the Illinmois Holocaust Museum and the German "reach out" she tried?

Why to a holocaust museum? The story didn't indicate it had anything to do with the Holocaust although it's possible slave labor was used at the factory. Some other options would have been the Chicago Public Library or the Library of Congress.

My grandfather was a German soldier who didn't agree with Hitler and was arrested and put into a concentration camp. Agreeing with everyone else, not ALL Germans agreed with Hitler or were Nazi's. He was liberated on April 29 years later that would be my birthday. I never knew my grandfather he passed away from Alzheimers but I hold my birthday as special because if he wasn't liberated I wouldn't be here. I love you Grandpa

billy gallagher you are a victim of fox news. It is perfectly legal to not pay taxes in this country due to loopholes tax shelters and offshoring etc. The question most of us pubs want to know is ...is it ethical and is that the kind of person we want to represent us

My family background on both sides are GERMAN, IRISH, SWEEDEN, and ENGLISH. Also BLACK DUTCH, and SCOTTISH. But no one in my family are Nazi's even though they came from Germany.
I am glad somone was able to save that book it is our families history.

the nazi party was and is responsible for the killing and destruction of so many people. I realize that all Germans were not in the Nazi party, but to ever hold up for the nazi agenda is unforgiveable! guess if the nazis had owned that book, they would have burnt it like millions of others

i want to know why obama has not ended the 'war" ever since he came into office you dont hear boo about the war as if it is not going on. where all the war protesters now? maybe cindy sheehan is hiding behind a tree or has elected to move next door to some other unsuspecting high ranking official and harass them for a change.

There is another sting that i cant wrap my head around.CHICAGO NAZI'S I grew up in the city of Chicago,and iam jewish.That aside every year the Chicago Nazi's have there march.Protected by police on either side they march in uniform, holding there flags from the 40s and bannors,slogons,bull horns blasting in an effort to recrute new members into there ranks.I know they should have the same rights as the rest of us but come on this is pushing it a little.In the past when there paths were figured out people would hide on roof tops and throw bottles and all manor of heavy objects at them.With all the Americans they have killed how can this go on it makes me weep.Thats why in the movie the blues brothers they try to run them over.Is it right for these skin heads to mass in numbers only to one day strike when there is enough of them.People hind sight is 20-20. On a positive note the only good i ever seen come out of this ,is the extra large signs of Adolf Hitler make for good targets.

Good point, Luna- because the left doesn't mind a "Democrat" war- its the "Republican" wars they dont like!

While troops were over takings cities and villages, they were also coming across lots of offices of high up Nazis and taking all sorts of things - guns, liquor, books, papers, pictures, and other valuables. For all we know, this book and many others was in a home of a vet who passed away. It doesn't have to be a Nazi, plus the kinds of people who would have access to a book like that in the Third Reich would be highly sought after and wouldn't keep books and other things that could possibly get them into trouble if found on them (when immigrating) or in their home.

On behalf of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, we are very sorry to learn that Ms. Stanek had difficulty in connecting with a Museum representative, and have reached out to her to learn more about her experience. We are committed to returning each and every phone call, and recognize the value to future generations of preserving these precious artifacts from the Nazi period. We are pleased to know that this rare artifact has found a good home at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum where it will be properly preserved. We look forward to continuing to educate both general visitors and school children about this painful chapter in history, while we salute the courage and resilience of the survivors.

For those who are interested, a reproduction of the book may be on display soon at the La Grange Park Library. They are working on it.

my family lived in germany during the war......my great grand father was major of that town...he was forced from office in 1933 because after the electon of hitler he refused to join the NSDAP ...if you owned a bussines or was in the wrong party you where black listed.....but maybe my grandmothers jewelry will show up on e-bay one day because there house was looted after the war ended....

i agree prodeus1, its insanity these thugs have more rights than the people they murdered, being a jew myself i dont cry but am outraged that some amercians are so fickle they would rather be politically correct and blend in with the masses than just speak truth and face the consequences because in todays world there is a price to pay should you choose to do jus
t that.

JOAN MARIETTE. This ones for you It is easy to forgive someone who steals your watch.But not some one who tried to exterminate your race thats a little bit larger then life.It would be like haveing one of your parents pour gasoline all over you set you on fire,but you didnt die,you were burned very badly and seriously disfigured for life.Now everytime you saw yourself in a mirror or your reflection in a store window you would remember who you are,what happened to you and who did it.You might not be so forgiveing after that.Thats were i am.I try to live my life al ways moveing forward.I dont hold all germans responsable for this only the leaders .Many germans were good and helpful to the jews.For that iam greatful.You may never under stand it.Even my children hold a special place in there hearts for who we are and were we come from. They learned at a very early age and it will be with them all of there lives just like me,my father,and his father befor him.

Dear Patch and editors: You wrote:
"Also found in between the book's pages was the letterhead of Nazi commander Hermann Göring and an envelope with a return address printed on it."
This is completely lazy reporting. You did not fact check your story it appears. That letterhead is NOT Goering's letterhead. It is from the factory/mine itself, which was named after Goering. It's like saying that you have a piece of paper that reads at the top "Aircraft Carrier Ronald Reagan" and writing a story that claims that you have a personal letterhead of Ron Reagan. OMG, please do your work if you want any respect from your readers.

Thank you Ms. Stanek,
That book is part of our history, I lost 14 members of my family (two were Catholic Priest). Mexico gave us a secure place as we could not enter the US due to our family living in France (occupied by the German Army).
I now live in this wonderful country of ours, served 3 yers, separated with 140% total disabilities. I never questioned an order from a superior.
After the sevice in the Army, I returned to Germany to study and remained 17 more years among that gentle people, married two (not at the same time).
The only negative I have against Germany is the weather, it is not the best for my liking, Now I live in San Diego, California.
Lleo Ainslie

please dont tell anyone but that nazi book was mine i returned it at night as to remain anonymous. I couldnt afford the overdue charges it had been late for at least 60 years

My brother, a W.W.2 pilot just passed-on in Dec. and we have boxes of letters and photos - there are still veterans alive - I concur, probably brought back as a souvenir.

Well, thank God I got my semi-daily Nazi or holocaust story. It's been almost 48 hours since the last story and I was getting worried that I might forget about the holocaust. After all, it was 'only' 70 years ago. (heavy sarcasm)

Thank goodness this woman knew German, this book could have been burned. What a great piece of history, I am glad that future generations will have it to study. She sounds like a decent woman, she could have sold it for her own gain but decided to donate it to a museum.

Having served in our military and being a life member of the VFW, a rifleman in the Honor Guard and a patriot that it bothers me when they arrest some 95 year old man for being a Nazi. Many are arrested for working at the camps and most were enlisted men. Let me make a few points, you could not burn your draft card in Nazi Germany, the Nazi party was a political party that really only a handful of people controlled, the Nazis lied to everyone including the German people. The reason the camps were not in Germany is because they were hiding them from the German people. Most guards that were German and not Ukrainian were ones that came back from the front injured and re stationed at these camps. If there is proof that these men stabbed babies or raped women then yes go after them, but to arrest them for being a soldier and following orders is wrong. I was a soldier, there were times when you were given shot to kill orders no matter who it was, as a soldier you are not there to question your orders. Go after the officers and the men who gave the orders no the emlisted men who followed them, if you did not follow orders you and most likely your family were sent to these camps. These camps had Jewish prisoners used as trustees who help lead prisoners to their death, they did so to stay alive just like the soldiers did. The pilot of the Anola Gay that dropped the A-bomb on Japan and vaporized innocent men women and children and caused birth defects for decades were following orders

I see the Passion of both sides of the discussion. But Stop-Look Around! The artifact was, if you remember, a Plan to build a Steel Mill. The above discussion has moved far from the Historical significance of the Document towards Political spin.
Everyone above agrees that the Nazi's were genocidal towards the Jews. Guilt is all around to share regardless of your ancestry, i:e; German, Jew, English, Japanese etc. I'm going to ask all of you one Question. Regardless of how the document arrived here in the U.S., What was the person trying to say with relaying the news of a plan for a Steel Mill? Before the advent of the computer, this was considered Military Intelligence. This is why the historical document is important and should be preserved. Thank you for your comments, Ronald O'Donnell

One final thing, Patch. The book is not and has never been secret. As you stated, it was a Christmas gift given to workers at the steel facility. (please capitalize Christmas in your stories going forward)
The title translates to "Original jubilee edition to the emergence of an unusual economic region". The "Geheim" or 'secret' shown on the front cover is actually from the original blueprints for the facility. THOSE PLANS were secret, NOT this book. This book is nothing more than a commemorative collectible for the workers of the steel plant. While of interesting historical value, it is nothing significant. Kind of like finding an old picture/memory book of Electro Motive from the 40's.

My mother survived the Holocaust. Some of her family were murdered in Treblinka. Millions supported Hitler and the Nazis. There were righteous people who did hide Jews, but not that many.
I am sorry some of you were offended by my comments, but it is my opinion.

Kudos to ur Mom, words can't describe her bravery and toughness! I hope you realize how heroic she is, and how much she sacrificed! Where was she imprisoned at? What ghetto? Did any "kindly Germans" help her? What obstacles did she encounter before AND after?

Yes Cindy many did support Hitler but they did not know about the death camps. That fact was kept secret from the German people because the Nazis knew they would not stand for it or agree with it, that is why all the camps were outside of Germany. The one camp in Germany was used to for homosexuals, political prisoners and Hitler's opposition, the German people were told the Jewish people were being relocated, neither the German people or the Jewish people knew they were going to death camps. In most camps the Nazis used Ukranian guards because of their brutality and all camps used Jewish trustees that helped the Nazis send people to their death. Once word started coming back about the camps it was too hard to believe and if you were a guard or a Jewish prisoner you did what you were told or you might be next. It was a sad part of history and ruthless dictators like Stalin {who murdered more people than Hitler} Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Hitler, Saddam Hussien all brutally murdered millions of innocent people. We need to remember these men and learn from them so we do not allow another one to come to power.

Didn't you write this rant b4 on here, Tony?

Rant? LOL, not sure how you could call it a rant. Trying to keep fresh how brutal dictators hurt humanity and effect citizens and the lives of innocent people. More of a fact check of how an evil person can come to power, take over and bring out the bad in humans. More of a "don't let history repeat itself" but as you can see the men I mention are from the 1930s to the when we took out Saddam, does not look like we learn much from human suffering. Plus the things still going on today, slave trades, sex slaves, wars, hunger, female mutulations, etc. looks like we will have more evil dictators and more ethnic cleansing in our future.

I meant to say you've written that same piece earlier, didn't u? Didn't mean to imply that it wasn't relevant, or correct, which it was.

I have recently found out that some of my family lived in a secret German society in Argentina and they later moved to the islands in the Caribbean. The thought that they were in any way involved in the Holocaust is frightening and shameful to me.

It should be Sonia but odds are unless your family member was a high ranking official they had little or no knowledge of the holocaust until it was too late or after the war. Nazi propoganda minister Joseph Goebbels controlled what the German people could see, read or hear in the news and he did a good job with it. I have relatives that fought for Germany and America and I had an uncle who was SS that died in Russia, my wife has an uncle who was captured by the Russians and thought to be killed, he showed up at their door in 1956 eleven years after the war was over. All sides were supposed to release any prisoners after the war but Russia used millions as slave labor and many died for nothing which is a crime in itself. The holocaust was top secret and only a handful of top Nazis were aware of what they were actually doing which is why the camps were outside of Germany and they used Ukranians as guards not Germans. It was a dark part of history for mankind and we should never forget the atrocities committed by all sides but what the Nazis did was far worse than the other countries. Hitler and Stalin were the most brutal dictators the world has ever seen, between them they are estimated to have killed over 100 million people. You would think man would learn but since Stalin and Hitler there has been pol pot, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussien, Slobodan Milosevic, chairman Mao..I guess mankind did not learn their lesson after the holocaust which is the real shame...

I always heard about how Nazis found refuge in Argentina. So when we found out that our family lived in that German community and changed their name from Gutzmann to the more Spanish sounding name of Guzman, there has been a lot of speculation among our family members. I know that they were business men and probably found it easier to use a Spanish sounding name in place of German spelling of our name.

They're probably just Germans who didn't want to be associated with Nazis!

I looked at all the comments and some of you can not understand how my mother and her family endured the Holocaust. Some of my family perished.
But some of you don't appreciate the awful suffering caused by the Nazis. You are the ones who need an education. The local Holocaust Museum in Glen Cove is the perfect place to start that education.

It is very sad for me that my mother, who survived the Holocaust, is reaching the end of her days. Of course, I shall miss her, but I am worried that there are very few people left who can give an eyewitness account.
These comments relating to what I original wrote worry me. People forget easily what the Nazis and actually blame me, as the daughter of a survivor, for my anger, saying I need help.
I will never forgive or forget what the Nazis did.

I understand what you are saying Cindy, you are right people do tend to forget. I do not think the education system teaches about the holocaust they way it did when we were in school. There will always be memorials and museums to ensure that people never forget but the people have to make that effort to go there. What I find sad is that since the holocaust there have been many other accounts of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Even shortly after the Nazi holocaust Josef Stalin continued to persecute the Jewish population and others, then in the 1970s Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot and Uganda president Idi Amin had their own holocaust. In the 1990s Slobodan Milosevic in Bosnia was guilty of another holocaust with his genocide and gendercide. Saddam Hussien gassed and murdered millions and the human atrocities and the forced sex slave trade going on in Rwanda for the last 30 years. I wish I could say mankind did learn something from the Nazi holocaust but sadly there will always be another Stalin, Hitler, Amin or Hussien waiting to come to power. I think if more people were taught about these atrocities it would help but sadly many kids today cannot tell you or even name any of these countries even the most famous one with the Nazis, I wish more schools would teach the children about all these holocausts because there is always a face there, like your mother they do have families and it is harder to ignore when they can put a face to it, it becomes more personal.

Rest in peace, Mom, who was a Holocaust Survivor.
September 16, 1921 to April 9, 2013.
Love, Your daughter,
Cindy Halpern

Ditto. Cindy, my condolences!