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Students in summer on north campus, red gears in background © Roland Baege​/​TU Dortmund
A valuable Treasure of North American Literature

A Reading Tour through the McGovern Library in the University Library

Various books from the McGovern Collection © Sylvia Thiele​/​TU Dortmund
To mark the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, a reading from American classics will take place at the Emil-Figge-Bibliothek. Prof. Walter Grünzweig's collection, which he donated to the TU Dortmund University library, also includes a dedication copy by Albert Einstein.

With more than 4,000 volumes, the American scholar Walter Grünzweig has collected a treasure trove of books on North American literature and culture and has now entrusted it to his University's library. Among them are real treasures with their own history and dedications from Albert Einstein, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal.

We cordially invite you to get to know this McGovern collection on an entertaining and exciting reading tour:

  • Thursday, June 18, 2026. 18:00 in the
  • Emil-Figge-Library, Emil-Figge-Str. 50

Dr. Julia Sattler (private lecturer in American Studies), Andreas Gruhn (Head of Children's and Youth Theatre Dortmund) and Christian Kirsch (responsible for printed media at the University Library) will read from pithy works from the collection. The audience is then invited to guess the titles over a cold drink. Walter Grünzweig will talk briefly about the place of these books in his collection.

Finally, Dr. Marra (Head of Dortmund University Archive) will illustrate the search for the spectacular and enigmatic Einstein autograph in the collection, which Prof. Grünzweig will place in the context of the fates of intellectual Jewish exiles in the USA.

If you like, you can have Ms. Buschmeier (a trainee at the University Library) show you our display case with autographs over another glass.

The McGovern reading is one of more than 80 events with which the City of Dortmund and TU Dortmund University, together with a partner network, are setting an example for transatlantic friendship on the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence on July 4.

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