• Book Burning Memorial
On May 10, 1933, National Socialist students organised a ritual book burning on what is today Bebelplatz in Berlin's Mitte district. The »Library« memorial has commemorated the ominous event since 1995.
Image: Berlin, 1933, Students during the book burning on Opernplatz, Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14598, k.A.
Berlin, 1933, Students during the book burning on Opernplatz, Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14598, k.A.

Image: Berlin, 2006, Book Burning Memorial by night, Stiftung Denkmal
Berlin, 2006, Book Burning Memorial by night, Stiftung Denkmal
The book burning was organised by the German Student Association (Deutsche Studentenschaft, DSt), an association of all student councils at German universities. From 1931 on, the German Student Association was increasingly under the influence of the National Socialist German Students' Association (Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund, NSDStB) and the NSDAP. The book burning of May 10, 1933, was the peak of the »Action against the Un-German Spirit«, which began on April 12, 1933. In flyers and in the press the students called for purging German writing of the »Jewish subversive spirit« and demanded of their colleagues that they denounce »inept« university teachers and students as well as »cleanse« university and institute libraries of the pilloried literature. The high point and finale of the action was the book burning, which simultaneously took place in 22 German university cities. A torchlight procession passed through Berlin on the evening of May 10, leading from the student house in Oranienburger Straße to Opernplatz, on which a large pile of wood had been set up. Joseph Goebbels, Reich
Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, gave a fiery speech to the crowd on Opernplatz. Similar ceremonies took place in other cities – following a »fire oath«, the students threw books onto the bonfire reciting the respective author's name. The works of Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Heinrich Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Kurt Tucholsky, Anna Seghers, Alfred Döblin, Heinrich Heine and many other authors were burned. The stock exchange gazette of the German bookselling trade later published a list of a total of 131 authors whose books had to be removed from all book stores and libraries. Most of them were prohibited until the collapse of the National Socialist regime.
Image: Berlin, 1933, Students during the book burning on Opernplatz, Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14598, k.A.
Berlin, 1933, Students during the book burning on Opernplatz, Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14598, k.A.

Image: Berlin, 2006, Book Burning Memorial by night, Stiftung Denkmal
Berlin, 2006, Book Burning Memorial by night, Stiftung Denkmal
Many poets and authors living in the German Reich felt compelled to leave the country following the burning of their books on May 10, 1933. Many of them saw their situation as hopeless and committed suicide. Many of the authors who did not emigrate were persecuted by the SS and the Gestapo, murdered or chose to take their lives too: for instance, Erich Mühsam was murdered by members of the SS in the Oranienburg concentration camp in 1934. Jewish author Gertrud Kolmar was deported to Auschwitz in 1943 after having conducted forced labour in Berlin for many years. Publicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Carl von Ossietzky died in a hospital in Berlin in 1938 following several years at the Esterwegen concentration camp. Walter Benjamin, Ernst Toller, Stefan Zweig, Kurt Tucholsky, Egon Friedell and many others committed suicide.
Image: no place given, between 1933 and 1936, Publicist Carl von Ossietzky as a prisoner, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-93516-0010, k.A.
no place given, between 1933 and 1936, Publicist Carl von Ossietzky as a prisoner, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-93516-0010, k.A.

Image: Berlin, 2008, Memorial with the main building of Humboldt University in the background, Stiftung Denkmal, Anne Bobzin
Berlin, 2008, Memorial with the main building of Humboldt University in the background, Stiftung Denkmal, Anne Bobzin
The memorial on today's Bebelplatz, located between the State Opera, St. Hedwig's Cathedral and buildings of the Humboldt University, is entitled »Library«. It was designed by Israeli artist Micha Ullman. The initiative to erect a memorial to the book burnings came about in the Berlin Senate shortly after German reunification. Ullman's »Library« memorial was dedicated in 1995. It consists of a two-by-two metre large space below ground level on Bebelplatz, which can be viewed through a glass top. The walls are painted white, while empty book shelves symbolise the cultural loss caused by the National Socialist dictatorship.
Image: Berlin, 2008, Visitors at the memorial, Stiftung Denkmal, Anne Bobzin
Berlin, 2008, Visitors at the memorial, Stiftung Denkmal, Anne Bobzin

Image: Berlin, 2006, Empty bookshelves, Stiftung Denkmal
Berlin, 2006, Empty bookshelves, Stiftung Denkmal
Name
Denkmal zur Erinnerung an die Bücherverbrennung
Address
Bebelplatz
10117 Berlin
Open
Accessible at all times