Essen Reads and Swings
June 21, 2008 at Gerlingplatz
in Essen
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| The 75th Anniversary of the infamous Nazi
Book-Burning on the Gerlingplatz in Essen was marked by free lectures,
public readings, information stands and music to remind people and prevent
forgetfulness of past misdeeds. |
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Historical Background of
the Nazi Book-Burning in Essen:
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| Only a few months after Hitler’s National
Socialist seizure of power in Germany during May 1933, a countrywide initiative
by German students burned books of disfavored authors as an “Action against
un-German Spirit.”
The prelude to this appalling action was the
hateful proclamation of “12 Theses Against un-German Spirit”, which was
posted in April 1933 at German universities and published in many newspapers.
The works of all Jews and “those, who are submissive to them” were viewed
as “most dangerous adversaries” to the “purity of speech and writing,”
and the students demanded such thoughts be “eradicated.”
Right: The 12 Theses Against
un-German Spirit (Leaflet dated April 12, 1933). |
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In a list of “literature worthy of burning”
71 authors were identified on account of their Jewish, socialist or liberal
backgrounds. Among others, the listed authors included Kurt Tucholsky,
Bertolt Brecht, Erich Kaestner, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Heine, Sigmund Freud,
Stefan Zweig and Albert Einstein. The works of these condemned authors
were taken from universities, public libraries and private households in
large collective roundups.
(Left) Demand by Wuerzburg Students that citizens clean
their private holdings of “Un-German Writings” (Leaflet of April 1933) |
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Already on May 10, the book-burning had started
in many cities. The gathered books were piled to a pyre and, following
an invective speech of public denunciation, were set alight with great
celebration. The Essen book-burning followed somewhat later on June 21.
The occasion was staged by the National Socialists of Essen, who were led
by their newly Nazi-appointed director of the Municipal Library. Numerous
books were removed from the library as “un-German” and burned accordingly.
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Essen’s Gerlingplatz shortly before the Book-Burning.
At the right, one can recognize the accumulation of
piled book. In the left background is the restaurant “Gaststaette Wilhelm
Schmidt” with its recognizable signpost. The same pub still exists today,
however, now named “Panoptikum”. Before the Nazis seized power, when
it was still called the club “Eldorado”, the place was a favorite gay and
lesbian hangout which the Nazis forcibly shut down
Source: Ernst Schmidt Collection
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| The Book-Burning on the Gerlingplatz
The Gerlingplatz was selected as the showplace for
the book-burning because it was the traditional assembly point for working-class
protests in Essen. The book-burning was hailed by SA storm-troopers; SS
guardians of the Nazi Party; members of the Nazi Labor Organization NSBO;
youngsters in Hitler-Youth uniforms as a strike for freedom against the
“wretched traitors to the Folk.” However, the crowd included many curious
men and women who arrived simply to see the spectacle.
Source: Ernst Schmidt Collection |
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Further
to the Event Report
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Copyright © 2008 LG3949.de
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