Before World War II there was no independent system of labour courts in the German Reich or its states. One Panel of the Supreme Court of the German Reich – called “Reichsarbeitsgericht” – operated as court of appeal in employment matters. The literature needed by the “Reichsarbeitsgericht” was purchased by the Supreme Court library. After World War II the volumes remained in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). They were stored at the Supreme Court of the GDR at first and later on at storage places of the so called “Staatsreserve”.
In 1954 a completely new library was established at the Federal Labour Court in Kassel. Its collection contained about 3,000 volumes originally, growing up to 99,000 volumes today.
After 1990 staff members of the Federal High Court of Justice looked through the collection of the “Reichsarbeitsgericht” that had remained in the GDR and brought it to Karlsruhe. The Federal High Court of Justice submitted selected volumes related to labour law to the Federal Labour Court library. They are the historic branch of today’s collection and can be recognized well by the labels and stamps of the “Reichsarbeitsgericht’s” library.