American Library of Nazi Banned (and Burned) Books Opens
An American Library of Nazi banned and burned books opened on this day at the Brooklyn Jewish Center in New York City.
Nazi book burning in Germany had begun on May 10, 1933, just four months after Adolph Hitler took power. The library established on this day was one of relatively few organized anti-Nazi protests in the U.S.
The unpleasant truth is that book burning was not uncommon in the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s. It was primarily used to destroy allegedly “indecent” or pornographic books, magazines, photographs and other material. On November 26, 1935, for example, New York City censorship crusaders burned “tons” of allegedly “indecent” material. And on November 15, 1939, officials in East St. Louis, Illinois, burned James Steinbeck’s acclaimed but politically controversial novel Grapes of Wrath.
On July 27, 1935 federal authorities burned the only copy of the film Ecstasy in the United States on grounds that it was obscene. The Czeckoslovakian film starred Hedy Lamaar and it launched her acting career in the U.S.
Incredibly, book burning in the U.S. continued after World War II. Apparently, local authorities and censorship crusaders learned nothing from the experience of Nazi totalitarianism in Germany. Students at a Catholic school in Binghamton, NY, burned 10,000 comic books that were alleged to cause juvenile delinquency. And on February 11, 1952 officials in Oklahoma City burned books they claimed were filled with “socialism and sex.”
The American Library of Nazi Banned Books remained at the Brooklyn Jewish Center until it cl0sed on the 1970s. The holdings were transferred to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City.
Learn more: Matthew Fishburn, Burning Books (2008)
Watch a documentary on Nazi book burning from the Holocaust Museum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHzM1gXaiVo
Learn more: Haig A Bosmajian, Burning Books (2006)
Go to the Banned Book Week web site: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/