Home Literary Studies Nazi Book Burning and the American Response
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Nazi Book Burning and the American Response

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Zensur und Kultur
This chapter is in the book Zensur und Kultur
Guy Stern Nazi Book Burning and the American Response The Nazi era in Germany spawned its own iconography during those nadir years: the swastika, the blood-red background of the Nazi banner, the jackboot, the black and brown shirts, the death head insignia, and the right hand raised as a salute to the Führer. Yet one other symbol stands out, often recognized in single manifestations but not in its pervasiveness. Flames and fires accompanied the Third Reich from its strident inception to its apocalyptic demise. On January 30, 1933, an endless torchlight parade turned night into a surrealistic day in virtually all German cities. On Febru-ary 27th of that year the flames of the Reichstag fire also consumed the last vestiges of the Weimar Constitution; on May 10, 1933, the Nazis burned the books, on November 9th and 10th, 1938, the synagogues, in 1939 they commenced bombing and scorching European cities, in 1942 the gas ovens of the death camps were lit, in 1944/45 whole German cities went up in fire and smoke, including the corpse of the chief arsonist of that world conflagration. One of the events in this chain, the burning of the books, has frequently been commemorated by American libraries, including the Library of Congress. As one of its most distinguished Head Librarians, the poet Archibald MacLeish, intimated when he spoke out on the ninth anniversary of the Book Burning, the event could be utilized as a counter-statement, as a defense of American values, especially »the right to know,« which is embodied in the very nature of a library: If the coarse and brutal high school boys who made the Nazi bonfires could understand the power of a free man's books well enough to burn them, we in this country can understand the power of these books well enough to honor them and treat them as the things they are - the strongest and the most enduring weapons in our fight to make the world a world in which the free can live in freedom. The above analysis, coupled with the horribly accurate prophecy of Heinrich Heine, »That was but a prelude. Where they burn books, they will soon burn people,« justifies lifting the book burning out of the succession of outrageous deeds committed by the Nazis. The American poet Stephen Vincent Benêt found his justification by raising questions. In his radio play, They Burned the Books, he put it as follows: Why bother about the books? Why bother to go back to that fateful year... And from its grim recital pick one instance Of calculated wrong? A book's a book. It's paper, ink and print. If you stab it, it won't bleed

Guy Stern Nazi Book Burning and the American Response The Nazi era in Germany spawned its own iconography during those nadir years: the swastika, the blood-red background of the Nazi banner, the jackboot, the black and brown shirts, the death head insignia, and the right hand raised as a salute to the Führer. Yet one other symbol stands out, often recognized in single manifestations but not in its pervasiveness. Flames and fires accompanied the Third Reich from its strident inception to its apocalyptic demise. On January 30, 1933, an endless torchlight parade turned night into a surrealistic day in virtually all German cities. On Febru-ary 27th of that year the flames of the Reichstag fire also consumed the last vestiges of the Weimar Constitution; on May 10, 1933, the Nazis burned the books, on November 9th and 10th, 1938, the synagogues, in 1939 they commenced bombing and scorching European cities, in 1942 the gas ovens of the death camps were lit, in 1944/45 whole German cities went up in fire and smoke, including the corpse of the chief arsonist of that world conflagration. One of the events in this chain, the burning of the books, has frequently been commemorated by American libraries, including the Library of Congress. As one of its most distinguished Head Librarians, the poet Archibald MacLeish, intimated when he spoke out on the ninth anniversary of the Book Burning, the event could be utilized as a counter-statement, as a defense of American values, especially »the right to know,« which is embodied in the very nature of a library: If the coarse and brutal high school boys who made the Nazi bonfires could understand the power of a free man's books well enough to burn them, we in this country can understand the power of these books well enough to honor them and treat them as the things they are - the strongest and the most enduring weapons in our fight to make the world a world in which the free can live in freedom. The above analysis, coupled with the horribly accurate prophecy of Heinrich Heine, »That was but a prelude. Where they burn books, they will soon burn people,« justifies lifting the book burning out of the succession of outrageous deeds committed by the Nazis. The American poet Stephen Vincent Benêt found his justification by raising questions. In his radio play, They Burned the Books, he put it as follows: Why bother about the books? Why bother to go back to that fateful year... And from its grim recital pick one instance Of calculated wrong? A book's a book. It's paper, ink and print. If you stab it, it won't bleed

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Inhalt v
  3. Einleitung 1
  4. Zensur und Volkskultur im 18. Jahrhundert 14
  5. Der »Fall Sailer« 37
  6. Normenwandel auf dem Weg zur ›modernen‹ Zensur 63
  7. Geschlechtszensur 87
  8. Jean Paul’s Battles with the Censors and His Freiheits-Büchlein 99
  9. Control of the Visual Image in Imperial Germany 111
  10. Diplomacy by Other Means 123
  11. Macht und Ohnmacht des Zensurspielers Carl Sternheim 134
  12. Censorship and the Campaign against Foreign Influences in Film and Theater during the Weimar Republic 149
  13. Nachspiel der Machtspiele
  14. Nazi Book Burning and the American Response 161
  15. Vom großen Wir zum eigenen Ich 179
  16. Nachworte 193
  17. Bibliographie 203
  18. Die Autorinnen 221
  19. Namenregister 223
  20. Sachregister 233
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110913057.161

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Inhalt v
  3. Einleitung 1
  4. Zensur und Volkskultur im 18. Jahrhundert 14
  5. Der »Fall Sailer« 37
  6. Normenwandel auf dem Weg zur ›modernen‹ Zensur 63
  7. Geschlechtszensur 87
  8. Jean Paul’s Battles with the Censors and His Freiheits-Büchlein 99
  9. Control of the Visual Image in Imperial Germany 111
  10. Diplomacy by Other Means 123
  11. Macht und Ohnmacht des Zensurspielers Carl Sternheim 134
  12. Censorship and the Campaign against Foreign Influences in Film and Theater during the Weimar Republic 149
  13. Nachspiel der Machtspiele
  14. Nazi Book Burning and the American Response 161
  15. Vom großen Wir zum eigenen Ich 179
  16. Nachworte 193
  17. Bibliographie 203
  18. Die Autorinnen 221
  19. Namenregister 223
  20. Sachregister 233
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 24.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110913057.161/html?licenseType=restricted&srsltid=AfmBOopChqpvQHdtPKPSWLJja8_rPD9KPscU-T57TUHMe29GIayeNkTX
Scroll to top button