GHIL Library

Image showing a desk and chair in one of the first floor library rooms. The chair is pulled out invitingly, and a book is lying on the desk.

The library of the GHIL is an important and well-regarded institution for British historians of German history, students at London universities, and the general public. Its holdings on German history, British-German relations from the Middle Ages to the present day, and wider European history are comprehensive, up to date, free to use, and form a unique collection in Britain.

Visiting and joining the Library

Autumn/Winter opening hours:
The library is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am–8pm

New readers need to register for a library card and have a short introductory tour of the library before or during their first visit. The induction is available in person (Mo-Fr, 9.30am-4pm) or by appointment online via Zoom (email: library@ghil.ac.uk). A portrait photo (4.5 x 3.5 cm) and recent proof of address must be provided.

Library staff are also available for general enquiries at library@ghil.ac.uk.

If you would like to receive regular updates on recent acquisitions, featured books, and other library news, then you can sign up to the Library Newsletter.

Library Guide

Take a look at the flipbook below for an introduction to our library.

Featured Books

Cold War spies and espionage

The anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War are approaching, and so we thought that this time we would focus on what went before: a time when Berlin was a hotbed of spies, and the intelligence services of many countries competed to control the political landscape. We often think of the Cold War like a Bond film, with agents, double agents and triple agents playing chess with the fate of nations, but what was really happening? Read some of our selection of books to find out.

You can see these books in the Common Room at the GHIL, with an additional display relating to the October Thyssen lecture in the display case facing onto the stairs.

See in library catalogue

Richard C. S. Trahair

Encyclopedia of Cold War espionage, spies, and secret operations

Westport, CT ; London : Greenwood Press, 2004

Kp/1910

Dieter Krüger and Armin Wagner (eds.)

Konspiration als Beruf : Deutsche Geheimdienstchefs im Kalten Krieg

Berlin : Links, 2003

Sk.7/161

Stefanie Waske

Nach Lektüre vernichten! : Der geheime Nachrichtendienst von CDU und CSU im Kalten Krieg

München : Hanser, 2013

Sk.6/2498

Sven Felix Kellerhoff and Bernd von Kostka ; translated by Linden Lyons

Capital of spies : intelligence agencies in Berlin during the Cold War

Havertown : Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, 2021

Sk.7/158/4 (eBook)

Arthur L. Smith, Jr.

Kidnap City : Cold War Berlin

Contributions to the Study of World History. Nr 100

Westport, CT ; London : Greenwood Press, 2002

Si.4/70

David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kondrashev, and George Bailey

Battleground Berlin : CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War

New Haven, CT ; London : Yale Univ. Press, 1997

Kp/1900

Bodo V. Hechelhammer

Spion ohne Grenzen : Heinz Felfe - Agent in sieben Geheimdiensten

München : Piper, 2019

Sk.7/167/2

Benjamin Carter Hett, Michael Wala

Otto John : Patriot oder Verräter : eine deutsche Biographie

Reinbek : Rowohlt, 2019

Sk.13/John 4

Kristie Macrakis

Seduced by Secrets : Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World

Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008

Sk.7/1525/2

Klaus-Dietmar Henke

Geheime Dienste

Band 1. Die politische Inlandsspionage der Organisation Gehlen 1946-1953

Band 2. Die politische Inlandsspionage des BND in der Ära Adenauer

Veröff. d. Unabh. Historikerkom. zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes. 10; 14,1-2

Berlin : Ch. Links Verlag, 2018-2022

Sk.7/151/3

Wolfgang Krieger

Partnerdienste : Die Beziehungen des BND zu den westlichen Geheimdiensten 1946-1968

Veröff. d. Unabh. Historikerkom. zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes. 12

Berlin : Ch. Links Verlag, 2021

Sk.7/160/10

Ronny Heidenreich

Die DDR-Spionage des BND : von den Anfängen bis zum Mauerbau

Veröff. d. Unabh. Historikerkom. zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes. 11

Berlin : Ch. Links Verlag, 2019

Sk.7/160/9

Jan Foitzik and Nikita W. Petrow

Die sowjetischen Geheimdienste in der SBZ/DDR von 1945 bis 1953

Texte und Materialien zur Zeitgeschichte. Bd 17

Berlin ; New York, N.Y. : de Gruyter, 2009

Si.6/3860

Linda Risso

Propaganda and Intelligence in the Cold War : The NATO Information Service

London, New York, N.Y. : Routledge, 2014

Bq/7110

Helmut Müller-Enbergs and Armin Wagner (eds.)

Spione und Nachrichtenhändler : Geheimdienst-Karrieren in Deutschland 1939-1989

Berlin : Ch. Links Verlag, 2016

Sk.7/167

Gabriele Gast

Kundschafterin des Friedens : 17 Jahre Topspionin der DDR beim BND

Frankfurt/M. : Eichborn, 1999

So.13/Gast 1

Luke Daly-Groves

The British and American Intelligence Divisions in Occupied Germany, 1945-1955 : A Secret System of Rule

Cham : Springer International Publishing AG, 2024

Si.6/1022 (eBook)

Keith R. Allen

Interrogation nation : refugees and spies in Cold War Germany

Lanham ; Boulder, CO ; New York, N.Y. ; London : Rowman & Littlefield, 2017

Sk.7/158/1 (eBook)

Library Catalogue

All of our books, journals and electronic resources can be found via our online catalogue.

Recently published books can be made available to readers very quickly, and we invite readers to suggest new acquisitions at library@ghil.ac.uk.

Start your search

Library Collections

The GHIL Library's holdings comprise around 95,000 volumes, with a growing number of electronic resources. The collection's focus is largely on German history, with a special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Around a third of the library's resources are English-language materials.

Access and Services

The library is open to anyone with an interest in German history, British-German relations, or comparative historiography. The collection is reference only, so books cannot be taken out on loan.

There are no membership or joining fees but a passport photo and recent proof of address should be provided on the first visit so that a library card can be issued.

Contact and opening hours

Contact

German Historical Institute Library
17 Bloomsbury Square
London WC1A 2NJ

Tel. +44-(0)20-7309 2050
Email: library@ghil.ac.uk

Autumn/Winter opening hours:

The library is open Monday-Friday, 9.30am–8pm

Meet the Team

Provider:	TYPO3
Cookiename:	fe_typo_user, PHPSESSID
Runtime:	1

Provider:	Matomo
Cookiename:	Matomo
Runtime:	see description
Privacy source url:	https://matomo.org/privacy-policy/
Host:	https://www.ghil.ac.uk/

German Historical Institute London