Burning books is not a special idea of the 20th century. Already in Antique times the - PowerPoint Presentation

Burning books is not a special idea of the 20th century. Already in Antique times the destruction of the Alexandrian library became a symbol and a myth. The first recorded state-sponsored book burning was the destruction ordered by by the Grand Councillor Li Ssu in Ch‘in China in 213 BC. In the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age the burning of books was organized by the Catholic Inquisition for writings which had been seen as heretic. The famous quotation and much-repeated warning from Heinrich Heine: „Where one burns books, one will soon burn people“ origins from his play Almansor (1821), which is set among the Moors of Spain as they endure the first attack of the Spanish Inquisition. With the Enlightment book burning became unfashionable. Maybe for this reason book burning in the 20th Century by totalitarian regimes became in some way a very symbolic action to show the antiliberal attitude and their opposition towards the Enlightment ideas. The source collection contains examples from Spain, Italy, Hungary and Germany. There are different ways to use the collection. One possibility can be to compare the events: For sure there are differences e.g. between the organized form of book burning in Nazi Germany and the spontanous burning of communist literature during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. The activity with these precise events can be the starting point for further research about the historical background of the particular political system. Another way to use the collection could be to look closer at the books which are burnt. Especially in Nazi Germany at a very earlier stage lists for the cleansing of the public libraries were set up. These lists contained numerous names of prominent authors which are seen nowadays as part of world literature eg. Bertold Brecht, Ernest Hemingway, Maxim Gorki or Anna Seghers, just to name a few. The lists could be a starting point for further presentations about the work and life of the authors. Finally the material can be used to link the topic to events into the present time or recent history like the attacks on Salman Rushie’s Satanic Verses or the burnings of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books in some parts of the United States.

Germany 1933

10th of May 1933 On the 10th of May 1933 Nazi students unload confiscated materials for the public book burning that is to take place on the Opernplatz in Berlin. The banner on the back of the truck reads: "German students march against the un-German spirit." (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. Public Domain. Source Record ID: 306-NT- 865-D- 2)

Burning “un-German books” A member of the SA throws confiscated books into the bonfire during the public burning of "un-German" books on the Opernplatz in Berlin. Still from a motion picture 10th May 1933 (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. Public Domain. Source Record ID: Motion Picture Division Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park)

Confiscation at the Institute for Sexual Science Germans crowd around a truck filled with books, confiscated from the library of the Institute for Sexual Science,(Institut für interdisziplinäre Sexualforschung) in Hamburg for burning by the Nazis. In the background there is a panel of the "Zwischenstufenwand" (Wall of Sexual Intermediates), which hung at a prominent place in the Institute before the plundering of the Institute on May 6, 1933. Date: 10th May (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. Copyright: Public Domain Source Record ID: 306-NT- 865-D. Magnus-Hirschfeld Gesellschaft. Copyright: Public Domain. Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park)

Invitation to the Burning Act Invitation to the Burning Act at the Königsplatz on Wednesday 10th May 1933 11.30 pm. The student body of the University and Technical University of München and the student body of the area VII (Bavaria)) invite you to the above indicated manifestation. You have free access with this card to the blocked area at the Königsplatz (in front of the State Art Gallery). The access to the blocked area must be done on time until 11pm. After 11 pm the torchlight procession of the student body of Munich will arrive. 1. The united bands will play military marches. 2. Begin of the celebration with the song “Fellows forth”. 3. Speech of the eldest of the German student body Kurt Ellersiek. 4. Burning of anti-German journals and books. 5. Common singing of the songs: “God, who let iron grow”, “Germany, Germany above all”, “The flags high, the ranks totally closed”. Invitationcard Book Burning (Archive of Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität, Translation by Martin Liepach)

English Press Report Press Report by the Manchester Guardian 26th April 1933 (The Manchester Guardian, 26 April 1933)

Theses Against the Un-German Spirit (Strothmann, Dietrich. Nationalsozialistische Literaturpolitik: ein Beitrag zur Publizistik im Dritten Reich. Bonn: H. Bouvier, 1968.p. 76-77. Translation by Dr. Roland Richter)

Principles for the Compilation of Blacklists (Börsenblatt für den deutschen Büchhandel 100 (5/16/1933): 356-358. Gerhard Sauder (Ed.): Die Bücherverbrennung: 10. Mai 1933. Berlin-Ullstein 1985, p.120-121. Translated by Dr. Roland Richter)

(Sauder, Gerhard (Ed.). Die Bücherverbrennung: 10. Mai 1933. Berlin Ullstein 1985. p.122-126) Principles for Cleansing of Public Libraries

(Sauder, Gerhard (Ed.). Die Bücherverbrennung: 10. Mai 1933. Berlin Ullstein 1985. p.122-126) Principles for Cleansing of Public Libraries

Reactions from authors May 9, 1933: Helen Keller’s Scorching Letter to the Nazis about Book-Burning. To the student body of Germany: History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds/ I gave all the loyalties of my books for all time to the German soldiers blinded in the World War with no thought in my heart but love and compassion for the German people. I acknowledge the grievous complications that have led to your intolerance; all the more do I deplore the injustice and unwisdom of passing on to unborn generations the stigma of your deeds. Do not imagine that your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here. God sleepeth not, and He will visit His judgment upon you. Better were it for you to have a mill-stone hung around your neck and sink into the sea tha: to be hated and despised of all men. (“To the Student Body of Germany,” cablegram, May 9, 1933, Helen Keller Archives) (“Book Burning,” Box 210, Folder 3. American Foundation for the Blind)

Italy 1920

The Fire of Narodni Dom On July 13th 1920 fascist sqads burnt the Narodni Dom, which was the main cultural center of Slavic- talking people of Trieste. The city had recently become part of the Kingdom of Italy. The fire is considered a sort of „baptism“ of the fascist squads. Burning Narodni Dom, in Bologna on July 13, 1920. (WikiCommons, Public Domain)

Hungary 1956

Burning Stalin’s portraits and books After the death of Stalin in 1953 the grip on Hungary did not weaken. During the protests in 1956 Stalin portraits and books were thrown on the street and burnt. Budapest, Hungary, October 1956. (Copyright with courtesy of the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL))

Bookburning in Budapest Bookburning in Budapest in front of Horizont Bookshop at the corner of Lajos Kossuth and Semmelweis street on 27 October 1956. (Copyright with courtesy of the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL))

Bookburning in Budapest Bookburning in Budapest in front of Horizont Bookshop at the corner of Lajos Kossuth and Semmelweis street on 27 October 1956. (Copyright with courtesy of the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL))

Spain 1936

Bookburning in Tolosa In Tolosa, fascists burnt in the Old Square the books confiscated in the public schools after conquering the city (August 1936). (Photographer Ceferino Yanguas, Local archive of Vitoria-Gasteiz)

Call for burning books Article that appeared in the first page of the first number of the newspaper Arriba España, 1st of August 1936: "Comrade! You have an obligation to persecute Judaism, Freemasonry, Marxism and separatism. Destroy and burn their newspapers, books, magazines, and advertisements. Comrade! For God and for the Homeland! " (Newspaper Arriba España, 1st of August 1936. Translation by Harri Beobide)

Reactions

US reactions Poster by the US Office of War Information 1942 Poster showing Nazis burning books, with quotation by Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Books cannot be killed by fire“. (Books are weapons in the war of ideas, Broder, S. (artist); United States. Office of War Information (sponsor), created/Published: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942, File name: 07_01_000011. No changes were made.)

West-German reactions 1933 . . . In those days stakes were blazing in German cities. Due to the command of Goebbels millions of books went into flames. 1952 . . . In those days stakes were blazing again in the Soviet zone. Again 9 millions of books were burnt by this flame. It is the same flame. Those are the same methods. It is the same evil spirit. Most of the works are books of freedom and peace which turn to ashes. Who wants peace must learn that you don`t throw freedom and spirit into a stake. Critical statements by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) on the cleansing of undesirable literature in the GDR in libraries of the VEB (Volkseigene Betriebe = Companies owned by the people/state) and in holiday homes of the East German Trade Unions (FDGB) on 17.12.1951. (Archiv der Sozialen Demokratie, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Bonn Filename 6/FLBL000418)

When books burn This collection has been made by Martin Liepach of the team working on the project "Silencing Citizens through Censorship. Learning from Europe’s 20th Century Dictatorial and Totalitarian Past”. (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. Public Domain)