| “Public burning of “un-German” books in the Opernplatz (Opera Square). Berlin, Germany, May 10, 1933. In a symbolic act of ominous significance, on May 10, 1933, university students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of “un-German” books, presaging an era of state censorship and control of culture. On the evening of May 10, in most university towns, right-wing students marched in torchlight parades “against the un-German spirit.” The scripted rituals called for high Nazi officials, professors, university rectors, and university student leaders to address the participants and spectators. At the meeting places, students threw the pillaged and “unwanted” books onto bonfires with great ceremony, band-playing, and so-called “fire oaths.” In Berlin, some 40,000 persons gathered in the Opernplatz to hear Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels (October 29, 1897 – May 1, 1945) deliver a fiery address: “No to decadence and moral corruption!” Goebbels enjoined the crowd. “Yes to decency and morality in family and state! I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann (March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), Ernst Gläser (February 24, 1904 – April 3, 1979), Erich Kästner (February 23, 1899 – July 29, 1974).” Among the authors whose books student leaders burned that night were well-known socialists such as Bertolt Brecht (February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956) and August Bebel (February 22, 1840 – August 13, 1913); the founder of the concept of communism, Karl Marx; critical “bourgeois” writers like the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler (May 15, 1862 – October 21, 1931); and “corrupting foreign influences,” among them American author Ernest Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961). The fires also consumed several writings of the 1929 Nobel Prize-winning German author Thomas Mann (June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955), whose support of the Weimar Republic and critique of fascism raised Nazi ire. Also burned were works of international best-selling author Erich Maria Remarque (June 22, 1898 – September 25, 1970). Nazi ideologues vilified Remarque’s unflinching description of war, All Quiet on the Western Front, as “a literary betrayal of the soldiers of the World War.” Other writers included on the blacklists were American authors Jack London (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), Theodore Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945), and Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968), whose belief in social justice encouraged her to champion the disabled, pacifism, improved conditions for industrial workers, and women’s voting rights. Jewish authors numbered among the writers whose works were burned, among them some of the most famous contemporary writers of the day, such as Franz Werfel (September 10, 1890 – August 26, 1945), Max Brod (May 27, 1884 – December 20, 1968), and Stefan Zweig November 28, 1881 – February 22, 1942). Also among those works burned were the writings of beloved 19th-century German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine (December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856), who wrote in his 1820-1821 play “Almansor” the famous admonition, “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen”: “Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.” In 34 university towns across Germany, the May 10 “Action against the Un-German Spirit” was a success for the Nazi Germans, receiving widespread newspaper coverage. In some cities, notably Berlin, radio broadcasts brought the speeches, songs, and ceremonial chants “live” to countless German listeners. The promotion of “Aryan” culture and the suppression of other forms of artistic production was yet another Nazi effort to “purify” Germany.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii1790.jpg |
| Image Size | 474.16 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2732 x 1968 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | World Wide Photo |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 10, 1933 |
| Location | Opernplatz |
| City | Berlin |
| State or Province | Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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