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Donations to the Carina Ari Library

Lilian Karina's collection
Collection Lilian Karina has a special department in the Carina Ari Library

Lilian Karina
Lilian Karina Vásárhelyi (1907-2007)

Considerable donations were contributed by


  • Lilian Karina
  • Raisa Siljefors
  • Anna-Greta Ståhle
  • Zinaida Sohlman
  • and Lia Schubert.


Lilian Karina's donation to the Carina Ari Library


Collection of Books and Documents

There are two main sections of my book collection that I wish to emphasise: Anatomy for Dancers, and Dance and Politics.

The most important section is Dance and Politics. For many years, I collected material on dance in the Third Reich. Eventually, I realised that I needed assistance from an academic. This assistance was given to me by Marion Kant, PhD. In 1996, we eventually published "Tanz unterm Hakenkreuz". A second edition was published in 1999, and an American translation, "Hitler's Dancers", was published in 2004. These books contributed to a re-evaluation of a pivotal period in dance history. The German editions alone were reviewed by more than 50 critics in ten countries.

In my profession as a dance teacher I stressed the importance of teaching dance students about injuries, and as head teacher in the subject of anatomy at the institution that now goes under the name of Danshögskolan (University College of Dance), I was able to introduce this subject and lay the foundations for a crucial discipline.

The many books in Russian and Hungarian reflect one part of my life as I am a Russian immigrant who later married a Hungarian of Jewish heritage, with serious consequences in the late 1930s.

My donation also includes a large collection of photographs, documents, press cuttings, photocopies, etc. The collection contains many copies of yet unpublished documents relating to dance in the Third Reich, and extensive material that has hitherto remained unutilised but would be invaluable to a study of Rudolf von Laban's character and history.

I am delighted that my collection will be in good hands at the Carina Ari Library, since it is my hope that the material will benefit future research.

Lilian Karina

Collection Lilian Carina