In 1933 The Book of the Burned Books

In 1933, the Nazis tried to extinguish an era of Jewish intellectualism

by burning the works of more than a hundred authors. But did this act of terror actually succeed? Who chose the authors? Why were some pro-Nazi writers included? And what became of the authors in the aftermath? A gripping new book by the young journalist Volker Weidermann tackles these matters with tenacity and brilliance.

“I realised I had to write it the first time I saw the list of authors whose books were burnt,” says the author of Das Buch der verbrannten Bücher (The Book of the Burned Books) published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln, Germany.

“There are at least four or five of these banned authors whose books, in my opinion, are forgotten masterpieces. People such as Armin T. Wegner, who wrote brilliant eye-witness accounts about the slaughter of the Armenians in Turkey. In 1933 he actually wrote an open letter to Hitler, explaining why the Jews were important for Germany. It was an amazingly brave thing to do. They eventually found him, imprisoned him and tortured him.”