The Causes Of German Book Burnings

Consistent with Rossel, Germany has had a past of anti-Semitism, starting in 1542 when the great German Protestant leader Martin Luther wrote a booklet called Against the Jews and Their Lies. Even earlier the Catholic Churches had taught that the Jewish people killed Crist and should therefore be hated (10). Early teachings of anti-Semitism lead to a hating of the Jewish community, but with the German’s calling themselves the “Aryan Race” and the Jewish people calling themselves the “chosen one’s” there was bound to be competition on who was superior.

Many religious conflicts are built from prejudice. However, only few will have a lasting effect on the world’s history. In Germany in the year 1933, a man named Adolf Hitler rose to power. His mission would be to “exterminate” all minorities, but most importantly, the Jews. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire". But as we now know in history, the Holocaust was the genocide of six million Jews by Hitler and the Nazi regime. Over the time of Hitler's reign, the Jewish population would be stripped of their rights, dignity, and most preciously their lives.

Book burning is defined as “the ritual destruction by fire of books or other written materials. Usually carried out in a public context, the burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or political opposition to the materials in

In Fahrenheit 451, instead of putting out fires,the firemen start the fires to destroy books. The reason they destroy the books is to keep the people from reading them, to keep the people from learning what the books have to say. People who disobey the law end up being punished, but some just want to sacrifice everything they have for the knowledge of what the books gave them. One woman was caught with books in her home and was set on fire because she refused to leave, she wanted to stay with the books because she loved them that much that she was willing to give up her life. Even with a woman being set on fire with her books, the firemen still had to do their job and burn them, even if it means murder.

Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451 displays a setting where books are being burned instead of read. The novel initially begins with a detailed description of books being burned, with emphasis placed on describing the book as a "flapping pigeon" that slowly dies on a porch (1). The process of burning books is expanded throughout the novel, in which the government encourages the destruction of books by altering history and restructuring the original purpose of firemen: to put out fires. The process of burning books, does not only include setting paper on fire, instead it speaks of the destruction of each thought that are embedded within the paper of the book. Ray Bradbury wants to point out a much a larger critique that is prevalent

Horror struck on January 30, 1933, when Germany assigned Adolf Hitler as their chancellor. Once Hitler had finally reached power he set out to complete one goal, create a Greater Germany free from the Jews (“The reasons for the Holocaust,” 2009). This tragedy is known today as, “The Holocaust,” that explains the terrors of our histories past. The face of the Holocaust, master of death, and leader of Germany; Adolf Hitler the most deceitful, powerful, well spoken, and intelligent person that acted as the key to this mass murder. According to a research study at the University of South Florida, nearly eleven million people were targeted and killed. This disaster is a genocide that was meant to ethnically cleanse Germany of the Jews. Although Jewish people were the main target they were not the only ones targeted; gypsies, African Americans, homosexuals, socialists, political enemies, communists, and the mentally disabled were killed (Simpson, 2012, p. 113). The word to describe this hatred for Jewish people is known as antisemitism. It was brought about when German philosophers denounced that “Jewish spirit is alien to Germandom” (“Antisemitism”) which states that a Jew is non-German. Many people notice the horrible things the Germans did, but most don’t truly understand why the Holocaust occurred. To truly understand the Holocaust, you must first know the Nazis motivations. Their motivations fell into two categories including cultural explanations that focused on ideology and

Germans in the beginning of the Nazi era were campaigning to eliminate any signs of Jewish intellectualism or anti-socialist ideas within the public. This is eminent when the author states in the article “Book Burning” that, “German govt was trying to create support for the Nazi cause, by driving in the nazi ideas in social and cultural groups”(Book Burning, Holocaust

Antisemitism, the hatred for the Jewish people, has been called the longest hatred in history. This history is deep rooted and has existed for thousands of years, taking different forms throughout its existence, and intensifying up until and through the Holocaust, to then diminish to an extent but still be prevalent in most societies. Antisemitism exists in different forms, religious, ethnic, and political. The presence of Christianity as the predominant religion in Europe can be noted as a driving factor in religious and ethnic antisemitism, as can the Holocaust. Whereas instances such as the Islamic view on Judaism can be

In the book Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning tackles the question of why German citizens engaged in nefarious behavior that led to the deaths of millions of Jewish and other minorities throughout Europe. The question of what drove Germans to commit acts of genocide has been investigated by numerous historians, but unfortunately, no overarching answer for the crimes has yet been decided upon. However, certain theories are more popular than others. Daniel Goldhagen in his book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, has expounded that the nature of the German culture before the Second World War was deeply embedded in anti-Semitic fervor, which in turn, acted as the catalyst for the events that would unfold into the Holocaust. It is at this

German anti-Semitism played the main role in Holocaust and extermination of Jewish population in Europe during World War 2. There are different views on this subject among historians. Some support the fact that German society was anti-Semitic and ordinary

In this society, books are banned, they are not to be read or owned. Anyone who is caught with a book or accused of having books is punished by firemen. Firemen do not put out fire instead, they start it; their job is to burn books and anyone who owns them, “burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes. That's our official slogan” (Bradbury 3). The government justifies their reaction towards books arguing that they are protecting people’s happiness. According to their argument, the knowledge that people gain from books could lead to controversy. Consequently, by destroying books, people are relieved from thinking or arguing, “We stand against …those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought” (Bradbury 30). In order to remain in control, they have to brainwash people on a daily basis, masking their true intentions in the name of people’s happiness. Gabriela Wolk argues that “Fahrenheit 451, pointing towards the true power of the written word” (Wolk 11). Basically, books are considered “a loaded gun” (Bradbury 28) that would threaten the government power and for that, they must be

Overpowering Hate & Intolerance Throughout the Holocaust During World War II, more than 11 million people’s lives were lost due to hate and intolerance. In Nazi Germany, the Jewish population and other minorities were severely oppressed. Many were sent to concentration camps or shot by death squads, and a lucky few got out alive by going into hiding. But despite the harsh conditions, people resisted and refused to give into the immense hatred that resulted in the loss of so many innocent lives. Even though so many people faced intolerance, many more fought it.

In Fahrenheit 451, the burning of books in recurrent, but in our society, it is seen as being wicked. Burning books is disrespectful to the authors who wrote them. To explain the concept to Clarisse,” Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner.” (Bradbury6) Destroying a person’s work is just like saying forget them and all their hard work.

The Holocaust of 1933-1945, was the systematic killing of millions of European Jews by the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazis) (Webster, 430). This project showed the treacherous treatment towards all Jews of that era. Though many fought against this horrific genocide, the officials had already determined in their minds to exterminate the Jews. Thus, the Holocaust was a malicious movement that broke up many homes, brought immense despair, and congregated great discrimination. The Holocaust was an act of Hell on earth.

Works by authors such as Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, H.G. Wells, and Sinclair Lewis were torched (Stern, 1997). Just simply burning books is a testament as to how powerful the Nazis came when they took over Poland and Germany, leaving absolutely no freedom to the people of both