An attempt is made to document some of the developments which affected the political role of German librarianship as seen through the involvements, activities, and correspondence of one of its leaders, George Leyh, during and after the Hitler era. The interconnections of Leyh's behavior, inner conflicts, and actions and the political and psychological climate in which he lived and worked are traced. Leyh's dream was to remain a detached and serene scholar in spite of the turmoil of the 1930's and 1940's. Instead he became a political activist in an age in which deportations, censorship, suspicion, and fear, followed by political division, zonal fragmentation, and ideological alienation sundered the German library profession. The study is based on Leyh's correspondence, printed materials, and personal interviews with Leyh and persons who knew him. (Author/LS)