By the early 20th century, the Catholic University of Leuven/Louvain in Belgium had one of Europe’s great libraries, with 300,000 volumes in total, including rare manuscripts from medieval Europe and the Near East as well as early printed volumes. What’s more, it was open to the general public. Then, in 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm’s army marched through and burned the place down, an action which drew worldwide condemnation. An international effort after World War I rebuilt the collection — and then, in 1940, Hitler’s army blew the place up. Richard Ovenden, director of the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford, recounts the sad history. – Literary Hub