MILLION BOOK BOOK-BURNING TO BEGIN MONDAY?
by Michael Ravnitzky, mikerav at mindspring.com, Silver Spring, Maryland
On Monday morning, more than a million hard to find books will be taken out
of a suburban Maryland building and destroyed. Here are excerpts from a
story about this situation, along with contact information for those who may
be able to stop this disaster.
The Washington Post
March 09, 2002
Final Chapter for a Cold War Relic; Warehouse Full of Russian Books May Go
to Incinerator
Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post Staff Writer
In its heyday, the sprawling bookstore tucked into a nondescript industrial
park behind White Flint Mall in Rockville was a curious outpost of the Cold
War.
Researchers, Russophiles and spies made their way to Victor Kamkin Inc.,
which for decades collected and sold books detailing every aspect of life
and history in the Soviet Union, all in their original Russian. A little
more than 1 million bound volumes were in the last inventory, taken two
years ago. Workers there estimate there could be nearly 2 million books and
other published materials today.
On Monday morning, Montgomery County sheriff's deputies are expected to
receive the entire collection at the county incinerator. Victor Kamkin Inc.,
named for the Russian emigre[acute] who founded it 50 years ago, is being
evicted, a victim of the Cold War's demise and declining demand for Russian
books. With no buyer for the collection, its landlord arranged for the
entire stock to be destroyed.
"It's a real shame to think these will become a book burning," said Igor
Kalageorgi, the great-nephew of Victor Kamkin and the store's owner. Late
yesterday afternoon, from his bed at Suburban Hospital, he was still trying
to negotiate with his landlord to save the books. He went to the hospital
Thursday for bleeding ulcers.
SNIP
By last year, Kamkin couldn't pay the $ 15,000 monthly rent for its
warehouse.
Kamkin is $ 200,000 behind in payments to its landlord, Allen Kronstadt of
Randolph Buildings L.P., and in December eviction proceedings began.
Normally in an eviction, anything left in the rented space is piled up on
the curbside. That usually amounts to a few items of furniture or clothing.
But the sheriff said putting nearly 2 million books on the street was
impossible. Sheriff's deputies insisted that Kronstadt take the books away
-- destroy them if he had to -- to keep them off the street.
"There would be nowhere to put that many books in the public right of way,"
said Lt. John Dean, who has been handling the case for the sheriff's
department.
The landlord, who has been taking books he wants on Russian Jewish history
off Kamkin's shelves in recent days, tried several book publishers, a
Russian newspaper, an auctioneer and libraries with special collections, but
to no avail.
"I've had a publisher tell me, sure, he'd want maybe 5,000 or 10,000 of the
rarest ones, but not a million," Kronstadt said.
So laborers have been hired to load the collection from the
20,000-square-foot warehouse onto trucks and haul it to the county transfer
station, where they could be burned.
Kronstadt, not eager to be seen as a man who burns books, said he was
looking into recycling options, which would mean, essentially, pulping them.
SNIP
The amount of material to be cleared out is immense. In the front is a small
store with a few racks of cards, trinkets, matryoshka dolls and CDs. In the
back is the warehouse where there are rows and rows of books, packed
tightly, floor to ceiling.
The store will be open over the weekend for a clearance sale.
SNIP
"I thought I could save it," Kalageorgi said, as he opened bills
THE LANDLORD SEEKING REMOVAL/DESTRUCTION OF A MILLION BOOKS:
Allen Kronstadt, Vice President, Dreyfuss Bros, Inc. 1001 Chillim Road,
Hyattsville, MD telephone: 301-559-3182, and Dreyfuss Bros., Inc., 7315
Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD telephone: 301-951-8300.
Allen R. Kronstadt, Kronstadt A R Realty Investors, 11300 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, MD telephone: 301-530-9700
Allen R. Kronstadt, Zuckerman Kronstadt Inc. , 16220 Frederick Road,
Gaithersburg, MD telephone: 301-977-4027
Allen R. Kronstadt, 10900 Sugarbush Terrace, Rockville, MD home telephone:
301-881-2927
THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY SHERIFF
County Sheriff Raymond M. Kight
Montgomery County Sheriff's Office
50 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
Telephone: 240-777-7000
Main Number 240-777-7000
Administration 240-777-7008
Fax Number 240-777-7148
Eviction Section Sergeant at: 301-279-8254 or 301-279-8257 (voice mail).
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE AREA
Honorable Constance A. Morella
51 Monroe Street, Suite 507
Rockville, Maryland 20850
Phone: (301) 424 - 3501
Telefax: (301) 424 - 5992
The DC Office:
Phone: (202) 225 - 5341
Telefax: (202) 225 - 1389
MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL
Blair EwinG Councilmember.Ewing at co.mo.md.us
Isiah Leggett isiah.leggett at co.mo.md.us
Steve Silverman county.council at co.mo.md.us
Michael L. Subin michael.subin at co.mo.md.us
Howard A. Denis Councilmember.Denis at co.mo.md.us
Nancy Dacek nancy.dacek at co.mo.md.us
Phil Andrews phil.andrews at co.mo.md.us
Marilyn J. Praisner m.praisner at co.mo.md.us
Derick Berlage berlage at co.mo.md.us
MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Douglas M. Duncan
Executive Office Building
101 Monroe Street
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 240-777-2500
Fax: 240-777-2517
Deborah S. Goodwin , Special Assistant
Constantia Latham, Special Assistant
Jerry Pasternak, Special Assistant
Saralee S. Todd, Special Assistant
Bruce M. Romer, Chief Administrative Officer
George F. Griffin, Assistant Chief Admin. Officer