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Welcome to the Museum ofBooks

The History

Of Burning Books

Back Wall Artifact

"Wherever books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too" (Heinrich Heine).

Room 1

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Burning Books

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(Authentic History)

● During WWI America banned german books and stopped teaching German to young children.

● When the war broke out America went into a anti-german hysteria and hated everything German.

● German was a very common language in the US but they soon stopped teaching the language.

● The german books were being burned just because they had german content in them.

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Banning During WWI

(History Place)

On May 10, 1933, a group of German students and storm troopers united in Berlin’s Opera Square to burn books that had “un-German” ideas. Later on, Germany was ruled by a high-school dropout Hitler. He believed reawakening the German spirit was far more important than learning. Both The German Student Union and Hitler strived to keep everyone in control. They all wanted to fixate their people’s minds on the Nazi Ideology. Nazi ideology: The ideology and practices of the Nazis. Especially the policy of racist nationalism, national expansion, and state control of the economy.

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German Nazi Book Burning

uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com

“And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:19)

❖ Books that were believed to not please God were burned

❖ This was because of beliefs and convincing people what they were doing did not please God.

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Bible References

(ncac)

● Books have been banned for many years now, but recent books are being banned.

● The books that are being banned in recent times are:

○ Forever by Judy Blume○ Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov○ I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by

Maya Angelou ○ It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris○ Heather has two mommies by

Leslea Newman○ The Harry Potter series by J.K.

Roweling○ the Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz

● These books were banned due to the content that the books covered (ncac).

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Books Recently Banned

Room 2

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Authors

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(Banned-books)

● Authors had similar ideas in the books that they wrote. Their work was about their own believes that the world did not agree with. Some contents that were also covered in the books were sex, believed to be inappropriate, contains too much offensive language, or was involved with sex(ala).

● Some authors were-○ George Orwell○ Mark Twain○ J.K. Roweling○ Harper Lee

(Banned-books).

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1980s Authors

AP Euro book

● With the invention of the printing press, reformers were able to share their ideas about the catholic church and their distaste for it.

● Authors like Martin Luther, John Calvinist, and many more reformers books were banned and booked by the catholic church.

● The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a book list that the Catholic church sent to its followers.

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Banning during The Reformation

ala.org

● Usually an author's book may be banned or challenged because of the content that the book may contain.

● There is a difference between a authors book being banned and it being challenged.

● Books were challenged with the right intention- to protect others.

● Top three reasons to censor books:1. The material was considered to be

"sexually explicit"2. The material contained "offensive

language"3. The materials was "unsuited to any age

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Authors books being Challenged

(History Place)

The German Student Union ceremonially burned books in Nazi Germany and Austria primarily based on who wrote and what was written in those books.Here are what some of the authors had in common that somehow led to their books being burned...

● Their writings focused on classical liberality, were anarchist, socialist, pacifist, communist, Jewish etc.

● Their writings were viewed as subversive or undermined the National Socialist administration.

● Some examples of those authors whose books were burned were:○ German:

Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Albert Einstein, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Eduard Jacob

● Non-German: D.H Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Helen Keller, Joseph Conrad And more... Their works could no longer be found in libraries or in the curricula of schools or universities. Some authors were forced into exile, derived from citizenship, or self-imposed exile from society.

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Authors in Nazi Germany

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How were people affected?

Linked citation goes here

❏ People were no longer reading books that

displeased god

❏ The word of God expanded and people

repented and turned to God

❏ The total price for all the books that were

burned were an estimate of 5,000 pieces of

silver

❏ Christianity grew in faith as well as in

numbers.

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Life after the burnings

(Wiesenthal)

People started revolting and protesting because of the Nazi’s decisions to burn books and their policies.

❖ People would publicly state their opinions. ➢ Ex: “Through an interview with Dorothy Thompson

upon her return from Berlin-where the books of her husband, Sinclair Lewis, had likewise been burnt-Time magazine tied together book burning and brutalization”(wiesenthal).

➢ Public organizations would also show their support against book burning…

➢ “In addition, the book burnings and Germany's unbridled nationalism were condemned in radio panels’(wiesenthal).

❖ Generally, the burning of books affected America’s memory especially when a current event or anniversary occurred. ➢ Founded by Alfred Kantorowicz and presided over by

Andre Gide, Romain Rolland, H. G. Wells, and Heinrich Mann, it reassembled many of the burnt books and functioned as a center for exiled writers.

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People’s reaction in Nazi Germany

(John Heinl)

● Americans didn’t seem to mind that they stopped teaching the German language in school. They even stopped speaking German in public. Burning books with any German ideas was offensive to German Americans. They obviously didn’t agree with this.

● Germans Americans were mistreated and “robbed” of their natural rights. There are many documents stating some were even lynched.

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Reactions during WW I

(short list)

People reacted in different ways. Some people agreed with the reasons that the books were banned. They did not react the way people now a days would have reacted. They were all for the banning of the books. They agreed with the fact that they banned the books because of the content that was being presented.The contents that were being presented were politics, religion, and sex.There were rarely bad reactions because the content was explicitly mature.

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People’s reaction in the 1980s

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Did this tie economically and politically to a place/era?

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(USHMM)

The Nazi book burning had to do specifically with the authorities of Germany. They wanted to synchronize professional and cultural organizations with Nazi ideology and policy. "The government purged cultural organizations of Jewish and other officials alleged to be politically suspect or who performed or created art works which Nazi ideologues labeled “degenerate"(ushmm).The next way it linked politically to Germany was Hitler's rule. Hitler was a high-school dropout. He was rightly terrified that people may become more wise and advanced than him. Based on his fear, he decided to allow further book burning; primarily those of "Un-German ideas". Especially since those types of books may have ignited a rebellion against his policies. He basically did it to suppress his people and stay in supreme control.This examples were led by the similar idea of vanishing the "Un-German Spirit". This was just a way to achieve that in literature.(ushmm).

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Nazi Germany Book Burning With Politics

Linked citation goes here

● Society has changed and the government believes that there should be a fine line between what one person considers bad and good for people.

Ex: The New York society for the suppression of vice. ● Was to prevent “obscene” materials

from polluting the minds of the young children.

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Politics behind the burning and banning of books

Citation Page

● "The History Place - Triumph of Hitler: Burning of Books." The History Place - Triumph of Hitler: Burning of Books. Web. 26 Aug. 2014.

● "Acts 19:19." Bible Hub. Web. 26 Aug. 2014.● "War Hysteria & the Persecution of German-Americans." War Hysteria & the

Persecution of German-Americans. 12 July 2012. Web. 26 Aug. 2014.● "About Banned & Challenged Books." American Library Association. Web. 23 Aug.

2014● Heinl, John. "Anti-German Hysteria during World War One." Antigerman

Hysteria. 10 Dec. 2001. Web. 28 Aug. 2014..● Magelky, Jennifer. "History of Banned Books." Washingtoncog. Web. 29 Aug. 2014.

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