260 books from the private collection of Adolf Kurt Placzek are heading to Brno

Adolf Kurt Placzek (1913-2000)

New York - Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka received 260 books on architecture from the private library of Adolf Kurt Placzek in New York on Monday. This Viennese native, who passed away 15 years ago, was a member of a prominent family associated with Brno, where his grandfather Baruch Placzek served as a city and later Moravian regional rabbi until his death in 1922. Adolf's cousin was the famous atomic physicist Georg Placzek, born in Brno, who was likely the only Czech in a leading role on the Manhattan Project, the secret American development of the atomic bomb.
    Adolf Placzek, known as Dolf, studied the history of art in Vienna and fled from the Nazis to London in 1938, and from there to New York two years later. He studied library science at Columbia University and then served in the American army during the world war. In 1948, he joined the architectural library at Columbia University, where he was director for twenty years until 1980. Under his leadership, the library in the field of architecture became one of the most esteemed in the world.
    Placzek's daughter Sylvia Brewda donated 260 books from her father's personal collection to the Czech Republic this year, specifically to the Brno Methodical Center for Modern Architecture at the Stiassni Villa. The books were temporarily stored at the Czech Center in New York, where Sobotka received them.