"Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people." More than 160 years after his death, this quote by the German poet Heinrich Heine is still relevant. To this day, dictators continue to fear the power of free speech and uncensored artistic expression. Authoritative regimes - such as those currently in power in Russia and Iran -do everything in their power to suppress freedom of art and expression to uphold their repressive systems.
After Hitler seized power in January 1933, on 10th May of that same year, tens of thousands of books were burned in more than twenty cities in Germany. Most were works by Jewish authors. But books of political dissidents were also burned. Numerous writers were forced to go into exile, while many of those who stayed in Germany were imprisoned or murdered. The Nazis replaced the Weimar Republic’s once vibrant culture with Nazi propaganda and a carefully tailored concept of what they wanted "German culture" to be.
In this episode of Arts Unveiled, filmmaker Susanne Spröer sets forth to investigate why the idea to burn books took hold at universities across Germany in 1933. What role did the symbolism of fire play? Which authors were blacklisted? What happened to them afterwards?
And what do young people today think about these acts of cultural destruction?