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Lest we forget
German Nazis indulged in an orgy of book-burning that had no parallels in the 20th century. This monument is a pertinent and timely reminder of how destructive intolerance is
NIGHT OF INFAMY: (L to R) The Library memorial to nazi book burnings at this spot of Bebelplatz in Berlin on May 10 1933, in the background Saint Hedwig's Cathedral; a further book burning took place the next day in the nearby Opernplatz
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ART IN THE OPEN
The Library
Bebelplatz, Berlin
THE evening of Wednesday May 10 1933 was bleak and rainy in Berlin.
Over 40,000 people had gathered in Kaiser Franz Josef Platz, now Bebelplatz, as Nazi German students from the adjoining Friedrich Wilhelms University (today Humboldt University), accompanied by many of the teaching staff, gleefully set fire to a large pile of over 20,000 books.
An SS military band played and close to midnight Joseph Goebbels, the German minister for propaganda addressed the gathering thus: “Entrust to the flames the intellectual garbage of the past.”
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