In 1949, a group of refugees from the Soviet Union founded a small Russian library, which was transferred to the American Committee for Liberation in 1952. In 1963, the library was taken over by Tolstoi Hilfs- und Kulturwerk, e.V., the German branch of the American Tolstoy Foundation. In 1999, the library celebrated its 50th anniversary. Over the past fifty years, the Tolstoy Library and its readers have significantly contributed to the preservation and development of Russian culture outside of Russia. For emigrants, exiles, former prisoners of war, people who worked in forced labor, and refugees living in the Federal Republic of Germany, it has been and remains an important cultural and spiritual center. For German scholars, Slavicists, translators, and anyone interested in Russian culture, the library serves as a source of working material and a repository of literary treasures.

Since 1985, the number of library visitors has increased fivefold. The number of books checked out is about 25,000, with an average attendance of 5,000 readers in the reading room. Recently, Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, resettlers, and citizens of the CIS on business trips, scholarship holders, participants in cultural exchange programs, or those living in Germany due to marriage have joined the traditional library visitors. The growing interest of German readers and participants in cultural events has allowed the library to become a place for pleasant meetings between Russians and Germans.