The Day on Which Thoughts Burned in Germany – May 10, 1933
"The end of the Second World War isn't something you experience every day. So, you'd think, this ninth of May should be an extraordinary day. But it was a completely ordinary day. The streets were empty. People walked around as if nothing had happened. Only the sky was as blue as it rarely is." (Erich Kästner, Notabene 45, entry from May 9, 1945)
So begins a quiet, honest testimony of the day after the end of a world war – written by a man who knew more than many others that the end of a regime does not also mean the end of its shadows. Kästner, who had stayed. Kästner, who had observed. Kästner, who twelve years earlier had seen his own books thrown into the fire.
When one calls May 9, 1945, the Day of Liberation today, an echo remains in the background. The path to this liberation led through many other dates. And one of them, as depressing as it is symbolic, was May 10, 1933.
One day before – and years ahead
The day on which thought burned in Germany. In Berlin, on the Opernplatz, students, professors, SA men, and other functionaries staged the so-called "Action Against the Un-German Spirit." With torches, marching music, and slogans – like a macabre theater. Books were thrown onto pyres. Thoughts. Dreams. Criticism. Diversity.
Not random. Not spontaneous. But planned, propagated, publicly celebrated.
What was burning?
- Erich Kästner, whose Fabian was considered "morally corrosive." Emil and the Detectives—although a children's book—was also condemned as "subversive of the state" because of its depiction of urban life and Kästner's attitude.
- Heinrich Mann, author of The Subject, which exposed obedience to authority.
- Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera, Mother Courage.
- Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.
- Alfred Kerr, a sharp critic, stylistically brilliant.
- Anna Seghers, The Fellowship of the Ring.
- Kurt Tucholsky, whose satire dismantled nationalism.
- Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday – A Legacy of Humanism.
And many more. Jews. Socialists. Pacifists. Women. Freethinkers.
Erich Kästner was on the square. Incognito. Not a word, not a gesture, just an eyewitness. He later wrote: "I stood at the edge of the square. And saw my books burning. It was a tremendous sight. And an equally tremendous moment. I felt as if I were throwing myself into the fire."
Here begins the descent into darkness. Not with bombs, not with orders – but with symbols. With a gesture meant to show: words must no longer have power. It was the exile of reason. The censorship of the soul. The deliberate extinction of diversity.
From the Fiery Death of Books to the Ruin of the World
Twelve years lay between these two days. Twelve years of terror, oppression, exclusion, and murder. May 9, 1945, brought an end to this regime—but the beginning of its inhumanity had occurred long before.
"Where books are burned, people are also burned in the end." (Heinrich Heine)
The book burnings were not a side note, not a folklore act inspired by student exuberance. They were the overture. The ideological beginning of what later became industrial. An attempt to homogenize the intellectual landscape. And, as a consequence, to destroy the human landscape.
If the question is asked today whether May 8 or 9 was a day of liberation, the answer must be: Yes, but not unconditionally. For what was liberated had to find itself again. Literature, language, freedom—they lay beneath rubble, not just of stone.
The Poet as Chronicler of the Ashes
Kästner remained in Germany. He spoke softly, wrote for children, and maintained his dignity. His Notabene 45 is not a heroic reckoning, but a silent diagnosis. On May 9, it was quiet, he wrote. On May 10, it was loud. Destructively loud. And the silence that followed – it lasted a long time.
Perhaps it is precisely these quiet observations that sharpen our memory. Perhaps there is more truth in the quiet chronicle of the downfall than in any dramatic commemoration. Perhaps today we need to remember not louder, but more precisely.
For, as Kästner knew: The next pyre doesn't have to be a fire. Disinterest is enough.
Sapere aude!
S. Noir
The link to the original German text: https://www.ganjingworld.com/s/kK3m2zeyEv