The book burnings by the National Socialists began just a few months, even weeks, after the Nazis seized power on January 30, 1933. For the photographer and initiator of the “Burned Places” project Jan Schenck, they are a clear indication, as he says in an interview with RHEINPFALZ for what is to come – and has come in a terrible way. And as a reminder of what can become of such fatal actions, he considers the lasting memory of these events to be so important. “Where books are burned, people will also be burned in the end”, this famous quote from Heinrich Heine also reflects his opinion.
The website of the registered association “Burned Place” – www.verbrannte-orte.de – documents the Nazi book burnings with a map of the crime scenes and numerous documents. Contemporary texts can also be read there, including one by the author Arnold Zweig, who put it similarly to Heinrich Heine: “Whoever burns books also burns libraries, bombs open cities, shoots down places of worship with long-range guns or aerial bombs. The threat with which the torch flies into the pile of books is not aimed at the Jew Freud, Marx or Einstein, it is aimed at European culture, it is aimed at the values that humanity has laboriously created and which the barbarian hates because he is just barbaric, inferior, raw, infantile.”
Over 70 new crime scenes became known
As a book lover, Jan Schenck, who comes from northern Germany, has been interested in the subject for a long time – and as a photographer, he went in search of the crime scenes, which he documented photographically in their current state. This is how the exhibition that can currently be seen in Speyer in the State Library Center/Palatinate State Library was created, the atlas was created on the website – and a book was created that will now be published.
In the not always easy search for the crime scenes of the book burnings, the “burnt places”, Jan Schenck initially found help in my atlas, which the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies in Potsdam created and which included 90 places.
164 locations are now known. As a result of Schenck’s work and as a result of his project, more than 70 other places where books were burned were identified. In addition, there is increasing new knowledge about these actions, for example about which books were burned. There were targeted and also rather haphazard actions – and writings by regional writers could also be affected.
Memory with an extra dimension
The book burnings around May 10, 1933, with the central action on Bebelplatz in Berlin, are well known. But as early as March, the first spontaneous book burnings had taken place, for example after libraries were looted, searches and arrests were made.
Jan Schenck photographed this place as it looks today. He wants to give a face to the places where the books were burned at that time, so that they are not forgotten. Through this visual encounter, he gives the memory an additional dimension beyond the knowledge of the historical facts. In addition to the photos, Jan Schenck also creates interactive panoramas that can be used to explore the places in question.
“What do the places look like today and do we look at them differently, with the knowledge of the historical events?” These are questions that are asked. “The project wants to offer new forms of dealing with historical events and develop a variety of different approaches. In addition to ‘digital remembrance’, this also includes exhibitions, lectures and the promotion of local remembrance work,” says www.burnt-orte.de. It goes on to say: “What do the places look like today, almost 90 years after the book burnings? What purpose do the places serve today and how do we view them in the knowledge of the historical events? Are there visible signs of remembrance at the locations and are regional forms of remembrance work recognizable? The project deals with these questions.”
Also stumbling blocks
Jan Schenck sees the places where the books were burned as stumbling blocks that should remind us today of what happened back then. This results in an analogy to the project by the Cologne artist Gunter Demnig, who lays stumbling blocks on streets at the last freely chosen places of residence of victims of Nazi terror.
The commemoration work of the association “Burned Places” is very diverse. In addition to the exhibition, which can now be seen in Speyer and on which Jan Schenck and his project will speak on site tonight, there are also teaching materials for educational work in schools or other institutions.
Info
On Wednesday, April 19, at 7 p.m., there will be a lecture accompanying the exhibition in the State Library Center/Palatinate State Library. The curator and photographer Jan Schenk will explain the background and introduce the topic; In addition, the head of collections at the Rhineland-Palatinate State Library Center, Armin Schlechter, will take a look at the situation in Speyer. The exhibition “Burned Places – Book Burning 1933 in Germany” in cooperation with Burned Places e. V. is up to
Thursday, April 27, in the State Library Center/Palatinate State Library, Otto-Mayer-Strasse 9, opening hours Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
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