Who were the initiators for the book burnings in Germany, and what was their motivation/purpose?

1 Answer
May 23, 2018

Sadly it was university students , the German Student Union that led the book burnings to show their support of Nazism

Explanation:

It was the college students and teachers that led the movement of the book burning. The German Student Union with the support and encouragement of their professors organized the first book burnings in 1933.

Lists were made of books that were considered to be subversive to the political correctness of Nazism. Books by Jews, liberals, socialists, evangelical Christians, were targeted. The first books to be burned were by Karl Marx and Albert Einstein. American author Hemingway was targeted as being too pacifistic.

Burning books was a method of enforcing politically correct thought in the 1933. It can be argued that there is a danger of the present climate of political correctness on today's college climate becoming similar to the actions of college students in Nazi Germany.