Book Burning of May 10, 1933
Overview of Holocaust
The Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler wanted to kill all the Jews as part of his aim to conquer the world. By the end of the war the Nazis had killed about 6 million Jewish men, women, and children. In addition to Jews the Nazis had killed millions of other people whom Hitler regarded as racially inferior or politically dangerous.
Definition/Background Information
On May 10, 1933 student groups at universities across Germany carried out a series of book burnings of works that the students and leading Nazi party members associated with an "un-German spirit" enthusiastic crowds witnessed the burning of books by Brecht, Einstein Freud, Mann and Remarque, among many other well-known intellectuals, scientists and cultural figures, many of whom were Jewish.
Original Research Question
Why did they burn the books?
They burned thousands of books that they saw as "non German", they burned books from public and universities libraries, the students sought to purify German literature of "foreign", especially Jewish, and other immoral influences.
Quote
"The national state . . . must set race in the center of all life. It must take care to keep it pure. It must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. It must see to it that only the healthy beget children. . . . The state must act as the guardian of a millennial future in the face of which the wishes and the selfishness of the individual must appear as nothing. . . . It must put the most modern medical means in the service of this knowledge."
— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1925)
— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1925)
Citations
Berenbaum, Michael. "Holocaust." World Book Student. World Book, 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Book Burning." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 29 Jan. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.