The Nazi party came to power on January 30, 1933. Due to its revolutionary character, the new regime had to put an end to any type of opposition. On May 10 of that same year, the Nazi authorities charged against the intellectuals who were against them.
In more than 20 university cities in the country, on that day the Nazi party troops and the students who supported them collected from all the libraries of the German cities the books that the citizens were not supposed to read. That night there was a great book burning where the Nazis celebrated the purification of German culture. In Berlin the pyre consumed more than 20,000 volumes that were lost to history.
How to get to Bebelplatz
The book burning square in Berlin is the Bebelplatz, a square located just in front of the Humboldt University. To get there we must take bus line 100 to the Staatsoper. stop. To know the best combination to arrive you can consult the following LINK.
What can you see
In the square where 20,000 books were burned in 1933 there is today a small memorial. In the basement of the square a small empty room has been excavated, where empty white shelves have been placed on the walls, symbolizing the emptying of the libraries.
Next to the monument there are four plaques on the ground remembering the event and with a quote from the writer Heinrich Heines "This was only a prelude, where books are burned, people will end up being burned."