90: Book Burning

 

(Book burning on the Opernplatz in Berlin, Germany on May 10, 1933.)

90 years ago today (May 10, 1933) Nazi Germany burned the largest pile of books in Berlin, Germany. It was the start of Cultural Genocide.

Starting in March 1933 the Nazis in Germany targeted books they viewed as being subversive and opposing Nazism including books written by Jews, Half-Jews, Communists, Homosexuals, Socialists, Anarchists, Liberals, Pacificists, Non-Germans, etc.

On May 10, 1933 the Nazis (led by the German Student Union - Deutsche Studentenschaft) burned 25,000 books on Opernplatz in Berlin. Since it was raining, the Fire Brigade used gas canisters to keep the books on fire.

70,000 Men, Women and Children took part in this Book Burning in Berlin.

34 University Towns across Germany also held Book Burnings on or around May 10, 1933.

Book Burnings were held in Austria in 1938 when it was annexed to Nazi Germany and the Germans carried similar Book Burnings across every inch of Europe occupied by the Germans (from the British Channel Islands to the Soviet Union.)

In German-Occupied Poland (1939-1945) alone 1,500 Polish Authors were banned and their Books burned.

"Where books are burned, eventually people will also be burned."

Those words, written by the German-Jewish Poet Heinrich Heine in 1820, have sadly been proven correct.

In 1995 a Monument to the Memory of the Book Burning opened in Berlin, Germany.

Book Burning is not only a Nazi Invention (it has been going on for Centuries) nor has it stopped since the Nazis or only been done in Europe:

It has been done and continues to be done in Latin America, in North America (including the US), in Asia and in Africa.

From “The Diary of Anne Frank” to “Harry Potter” the list of burned books grows every day.