Something very significant happened here in 1933.
It was here, under Hitler's rule, that he ordered over 28000 books be burnt and it happened right there at that stark square called Bebelplatz. It was the first (of many) book burnings that happened across the country. Any books that were deemed 'un-German' and especially ones that were written by Jews, Communists and Pacifists, were taken from libraries, people's homes, and burnt. It was part of the 'cleansing' of Hitler's rule.
Now in the place where this happened stands a lone window pane, down in the square, of a white room, each side having multiple book shelves - all of them empty. Designed by Michael Ullmann, it is called 'Empty Library' to commemorate the event.
As you can imagine it is difficult to photograph.
As you can also imagine, it was pretty hard for a 6 year old book-lover to understand why anyone would want to burn books. =(
1 comment:
Ah, now, *this* is the memorial I remember. I thought it was brilliant. How better to get the message across (that burning books is wrong) than to show empty shelves...
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