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> A number of their works were considered to be permanently lost following World War 2. However, recent research at the Adam Mickiewicz University Library led t

> A number of their works were considered to be permanently lost following World War 2. However, recent research at the Adam Mickiewicz University Library led to an unexpected discovery — specialists managed to find 27 original volumes with rare prints and unique editions. lots of people mention the advancements and technologies gained from war, but how can we possibly remember what it caused us to lose? it's gone

MOARDONGZPLZ 2y ago
In this case they had an idea of how many volumes there were before the war and then how many after.
- FrustratedMonky 2y ago
  Think he is just making general case that it is easier to destroy than create, and during war, a lot is lost.
  - MOARDONGZPLZ 2y ago
    With recent advancements in generative AI that balance is changing quickly.
cafard 2y ago
If you are in Poland it ought to be painfully straightforward to remember the losses it caused.
- michael9423 2y ago
  The volumes of Brothers Grimm fairy tales found here were german. And they were found in Poland, because some of todays Poland was Germany, and most of the knowledge lost in the war in todays Poland was actually knowledge of german culture and heritage, when the Soviets invaded from the east and burned down all the houses and libraries. Millions of Germans fled and died, and with this large amounts of german knowledge has been lost forever. In this case, due to some luck, some works survived. Edit: "some", not "most".
  - throw_pm23 2y ago
    It's not like all this has happened in vacuum though. Some context is missing from your observation.
    - michael9423 2y ago
      nothing in history happens in a vacuum. But as a matter of fact, when the Soviets invaded Germany from the east, what got lost was mostly german knowledge in the destruction and burnings.
      - keiferski 2y ago
        When they invaded Germany proper, sure. But that was after the Germans had already destroyed countless Polish cultural treasures over the previous five years. And of course that’s not even mentioning the Russification and Germanization programs that aimed to destroy Polish culture and knowledge during the Partitions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_culture_during_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_culture_during_World_Wa... https://www.bn.org.pl/en/news/3855-75-years-ago-the-germans-set-fire-to-the-national-library-in-warsaw.html https://www.bn.org.pl/en/news/3855-75-years-ago-the-germans-...
        michael9423 2y ago
        Yes indeed. When governments lead wars against each other, it is the populations that suffer, and knowledge and culture get destroyed on all sides.
        keiferski 2y ago
        Characterizing the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union as “governments leading wars against each other” is sloppy revisionism at best. Poland was invaded by occupying powers.
        mistrial9 2y ago
echelon 2y ago
> but how can we possibly remember what it caused us to lose? War is one thing, but the inexorable march through geologic time is far worse. Everything we are and know will be erased due to entropy and the arrow of time.
- jareklupinski 2y ago
  my theory is The Great Filter is just species which figured this out and also figured out how to 'escape', and... well... us
WillAdams 2y ago
One extremely sad example is the libraries of brass matrices for hot metal type --- all-too many of these were melted down, mostly to make shell casings by various accounts. After the war, it was necessary to re-create said type libraries, mostly as phototype though, thus ending a golden age of printing which had reigned since Gutenberg, eventually, the Linotype and Monotype machines followed this into dissolution when digital type became prevalent. While most designs were eventually remade as phototypes, and later as digital type, many of them were only imperfectly preserved, so for example, rather than all the different hot metal sizes and variations, only a single phototype master usually exists, capturing only the state of a single size (usually a larger display size).
- mistrial9 2y ago
  agree this is interesting and worthwhile.. notice however that the divergence of letter forms in Eastern Europe (into Central Asia) is really a reflection of the drastic cultural conflicts in that area over centuries.. from a distance, it seems that "modern" typeface, and the type it replaced, together really are not very old compared to the cultures that were using them... and those cultures merged by imperial forces from multiple directions.

MOARDONGZPLZ 2y ago

In this case they had an idea of how many volumes there were before the war and then how many after.

FrustratedMonky 2y ago
Think he is just making general case that it is easier to destroy than create, and during war, a lot is lost.
- MOARDONGZPLZ 2y ago
  With recent advancements in generative AI that balance is changing quickly.

cafard 2y ago

If you are in Poland it ought to be painfully straightforward to remember the losses it caused.

michael9423 2y ago
The volumes of Brothers Grimm fairy tales found here were german. And they were found in Poland, because some of todays Poland was Germany, and most of the knowledge lost in the war in todays Poland was actually knowledge of german culture and heritage, when the Soviets invaded from the east and burned down all the houses and libraries. Millions of Germans fled and died, and with this large amounts of german knowledge has been lost forever. In this case, due to some luck, some works survived. Edit: "some", not "most".
- throw_pm23 2y ago
  It's not like all this has happened in vacuum though. Some context is missing from your observation.
  - michael9423 2y ago
    nothing in history happens in a vacuum. But as a matter of fact, when the Soviets invaded Germany from the east, what got lost was mostly german knowledge in the destruction and burnings.
    - keiferski 2y ago
      When they invaded Germany proper, sure. But that was after the Germans had already destroyed countless Polish cultural treasures over the previous five years. And of course that’s not even mentioning the Russification and Germanization programs that aimed to destroy Polish culture and knowledge during the Partitions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_culture_during_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_culture_during_World_Wa... https://www.bn.org.pl/en/news/3855-75-years-ago-the-germans-set-fire-to-the-national-library-in-warsaw.html https://www.bn.org.pl/en/news/3855-75-years-ago-the-germans-...
      - michael9423 2y ago
        Yes indeed. When governments lead wars against each other, it is the populations that suffer, and knowledge and culture get destroyed on all sides.
        keiferski 2y ago
        Characterizing the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union as “governments leading wars against each other” is sloppy revisionism at best. Poland was invaded by occupying powers.
        mistrial9 2y ago

echelon 2y ago

> but how can we possibly remember what it caused us to lose? War is one thing, but the inexorable march through geologic time is far worse. Everything we are and know will be erased due to entropy and the arrow of time.

jareklupinski 2y ago
my theory is The Great Filter is just species which figured this out and also figured out how to 'escape', and... well... us

WillAdams 2y ago

One extremely sad example is the libraries of brass matrices for hot metal type --- all-too many of these were melted down, mostly to make shell casings by various accounts. After the war, it was necessary to re-create said type libraries, mostly as phototype though, thus ending a golden age of printing which had reigned since Gutenberg, eventually, the Linotype and Monotype machines followed this into dissolution when digital type became prevalent. While most designs were eventually remade as phototypes, and later as digital type, many of them were only imperfectly preserved, so for example, rather than all the different hot metal sizes and variations, only a single phototype master usually exists, capturing only the state of a single size (usually a larger display size).

mistrial9 2y ago
agree this is interesting and worthwhile.. notice however that the divergence of letter forms in Eastern Europe (into Central Asia) is really a reflection of the drastic cultural conflicts in that area over centuries.. from a distance, it seems that "modern" typeface, and the type it replaced, together really are not very old compared to the cultures that were using them... and those cultures merged by imperial forces from multiple directions.