E5325 t45 1942 find in a library near you external link the text of a 1942 radio play written by an american poet and broadcast on the ninth anniversary of the book burnings. Then, on the night of may 10, 1933, nazis raided libraries and bookstores across germany. A brief history of book burning, from the printing press. Dramatizes the imagined voices of well known literary figures such as heine, schiller. Works of prominent jewish, liberal, and leftist writers ended up in the bonfires. These book burnings marked the beginning of a period of extensive censorship and control of culture in adolf hitlers escalating reign of terror. The book burnings took place in 34 university towns and cities.
When books went to war houghton mifflin harcourt, by molly guptill manning, details the 1933 berlin book burnings and tells the story of how america responded by printing hundreds of millions of books for americans serving in world war ii. Us holocaust memorial museum, courtesy of national archives and records administration, college park, md. On may 10, 1933, university students in 34 university towns across germany burned over 25,000 books. The mass book burnings marked a turning point in the nazis ideology campaigns.
Nazi propaganda and censorship the holocaust encyclopedia. In an interesting aftermath to the nazi book burnings, in 1946, the process was reversed by the allied leaders. Fighting the fires of hateamerica and the nazi book burnings is organized and circulated by the united states holocaust memorial museum. Some 30,000 different titles with subject matter from poetry to educational publications used in schools were eliminated. Book burnings in germany, 1933 american experience official. On the night of may 10, 1933, an event unseen in europe since the middle ages occurred as german students from universities once regarded as among the finest in the world, gathered in berlin to burn books with ungerman ideas. The largest of these book bonfires occurred in berlin, where an estimated 40,000 people gathered to hear a speech by. When alqaida islamists invaded mali, and then timbuktu in 2012, among their targets were priceless manuscriptsbooks that needed to be burned. While not performed in public, millions of books were seized from germany and destroyed. But the damage couldve been much worse if not for men like abdel kader haidara, who risked their lives to protect the medieval works. This was after 300,000 others had burned when the library was attacked in world war i. A member of the sa throws confiscated books into the bonfire during the public burning of ungerman books on the opernplatz in berlin, may 10, 1933. In may 1940, during nazi germanys offensive in europe in world war ii, the university library of leuven, belgium was destroyed by the german army and 900,000 books burned. Beginning on may 10, 1933, nazidominated student groups carried out public burnings of books they claimed were ungerman.
University library of salzburg against oblivion april 30, 1938 april 30, 20. Berlin book burnings and tells the story of how america responded by printing hundreds of millions of books for americans serving in world war ii. Fahrenheit 451 movie and the true history of book burning time. They marched by torchlight in nighttime parades, sang chants, and threw books into huge bonfires. Pastor terry joness plan to burn 200 copies of the quran in florida was widely condemned. During the spring of 1933, nazi student organizations, professors, and librarians made up long lists of books they thought should not be read by germans. Book burning united states holocaust memorial museum. The book burnings stood as a powerful symbol of nazi intolerance and censorship. Many german students were complicit in the nazi book burning campaign. The works of jewish authors like albert einstein and.