The invention pertains to an apparatus for destacking printed products such as books, brochures or book blocks for further processing, with said apparatus comprising a separating belt that takes hold of the respective product to be separated, a retaining device for preventing the residual stack from being transported further and a feed belt that is arranged upstream of the separating belt and feeds additional stacks to the separating area, wherein the retaining device comprises a movable element that is in contact with the stack and acts upon the residual stack with a force that feeds this residual stack onto the separating belt.