Banned Book Give Away
The Nazi Book Burnings
Beginning in May 1933, the Nazis burned books deemed “un-German” in public squares throughout Germany. Tens of thousands of books were thrown into bonfires during ceremonies that included torchlight parades, band music, “fire oaths,” and speeches by Nazi officials, university professors, and student leaders.
Books by famous German writers such as Bertolt Brecht and Karl Marx were burned because they conveyed political ideas different from those of the Nazi party. Erich Maria Remarque’s book All Quiet on the Western Front was targeted as “a literary betrayal of the soldiers of the World War.” The books of American authors such as Ernest Hemingway and Jack London were purged, as were the writings of Helen Keller who championed the rights of the disabled, industrial workers, and women. Texts by Jewish authors were destroyed, including titles by Heinrich Heine who wrote in his 1820-21 play Almansor,
