Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

Book Burning Memorials

Here are a pair of memorials in two different German cities to commemorate the Book Burnings of May 1933: The rulers of Nazi Germany endeavored to make Germany a totalitarian state, with complete elimination of any opposition. To this end, the SA ("brownshirts") and Nazi youth groups, on the instigation of the Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels carried out the Nazi anti-opposition book burning. In a symbolic act of ominous significance, the students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of "un-German" books, including works by Jews such as Albert Einstein , Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud; Germans such as Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, and many other authors. On the night of May 10, 1933, in most university towns, nationalist students marched in torchlight parades "against the un-German spirit." High Nazi officials, professors, rectors, and student leaders addressed the participants and spectators. At the meeting places, students threw the pillaged and unwanted books into bonfires with great joyous ceremony: band-playing, songs, "fire oaths," and incantations. Throughout Germany there are memorials to this event which ushered in an era of state censorship and control of culture.

The memorial plaque in the center of the Römerberg Square in Frankfurt’s Altstadt (old town) reads,

On this place on May 10, 1933 Nazi students burned the books of writers, scientists, journalists, and philosophers.

Around the perimeter is the quote by Heinrich Heine.

The monument at Bebelplatz at Humboldt University in Berlin consists of a glass plate set into the square, giving a view of empty bookcases.

Nearby the glass memorial, a line of Heinrich Heine is engraved, stating:

Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen
(Where they burn books, they ultimately burn people).

Discussion Questions

1. What is the physical design and artistic concept of each memorial and how do they reflect the events they commemorate?

2. Where are the memorials located within their respective cities and how does the location contribute to their meaning and visibility?

3. How does each memorial engage with the public - are they interactive, educational, or contemplative spaces?

4. What historical context or background is provided at each site and how does that influence a visitor's understanding of the 1933 book burnings?

Sources

The Book Burning: Report by Louis P. Lochner, Head of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (May 10, 1933). (2023). Germanhistorydocs.org. https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/nazi-germany-1933-1945/ghdi:document-1575

Eisenberg, A. (1981). Witness to the Holocaust. Pilgrim Press.

German History in Documents and Images. “Joseph Goebbels: Speech at the Book Burning (May 10, 1933).” German Historical Institute. https://ghdi.ghidc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1577

Glickman, M., & Jewish Publication Society Philadelphia. (2016). Stolen words : the Nazi plunder of Jewish books. The Jewish Publication Society.

Letter from Helen Keller to Adolf Hitler / German students expressing anger over Hitler’s policies. May 9, 1933. (2025). Afb.org. https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK02-B210-F03-001&srpos=5&e=-------en-20--1--txt--german+students------------------------0-1

Lewy, G. (2016). Harmful and Undesirable. Oxford University Press.

PBS. (2019). Book Burnings in Germany, 1933. Pbs.org; Pbs. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-burnings/

Rose, J. (2008). The Holocaust and the book destruction and preservation. Amherst, Mass. Univ. Of Massachusetts Press.

Rydell, A. (2018). The book thieves : the Nazi looting of Europe’s libraries and the race to return a literary inheritance. Penguin Books.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2024, October 7). Book Burning. Holocaust Encyclopedia; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/book-burning

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. (2025). Yivoencyclopedia.org. https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Nazi_Book_Burnings