“Where books are burned, in the end, people will be burned.” (Heinrich Heine, German poet, 1821)

After watching this short film about the infamous book burning in Germany 1933, consider what motivated people to burn books. What kinds of books were burned? How can books constitute a form of threat to certain governments?

People (governments) burnt books because they were scared of the power books hold. Books are a mean of expressing ideas, and people wanted to take this away so they can control others, convincing them that they only had one choice. And others followed because they thought book burning a noble, pure thing- books that were “un-german” didn’t deserve to exist. So-called “un-german” books are those that talk about ideas that are different from/against the government. These books can create doubt towards the government, so they want them burnt and annihilated. Burning books is an extinguishment of power and free thought/speech.