This article pairs Bibliothek, a memorial in Berlin against the Nazi book-burning of May 10, 1933, with the library in Wim Wenders’ film Der Himmel über Berlin (1987) as sites to reflect on loss with the disappearance of material books from the library and the conversion of libraries into information centers in the era of the internet and digital reproduction. It explores loss by taking up arguments of Walter Benjamin concerning artworks and by applying his theory of loss to books that exist, unlike works of art, only because of mass technical reproduction. It then examines how to argue for loss in ontological and even civilizational terms, especially when the rational justification for the massive clearance of books is justified by the short-term utilitarian calculus of benefit and gain that determines that there is no loss at all. By way of conclusion, it offers a sketch of the new library as having heightened responsibilities in the pursuit of truth as a center for documentation akin to an incident room at the scene of a crime. In this regard, the Topography of Terror Documentation Center on Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin on the site of the former Gestapo Headquarters is both a paradigm and a beacon.

本文将Bibliothek（一座纪念1933年5月10日纳粹焚书的柏林纪念馆）与Wim Wenders的电影Der HimmelüberBerlin（1987年）中的图书馆相映成趣，以反思损失与物质书籍的消失互联网和数字复制时代的图书馆，以及图书馆到信息中心的转换。它通过接受沃尔特·本杰明（Walter Benjamin）关于艺术品的争论，并将他的损失理论应用到与艺术品不同的原因而存在的书籍中来探讨损失，而艺术品与艺术品不同，仅仅是因为大量技术复制。然后，它研究了如何以本体论甚至文明方面的观点为损失辩护，特别是当通过大量的短期功利主义利益和收益算术确定了根本没有损失的合理性证明书本大量清算的合理理由时。作为结论，它提供了一个新图书馆的概图，该图书馆在追求真相方面担负着更大的责任，而真理是作为犯罪现场类似事件室的文档中心。在这方面，前盖世太保总部所在地柏林威廉大街上的恐怖地带文献记录中心既是范例又是灯塔。