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Bebelplatz

Berlin, Italy

Bebelplatz

Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels made Bebelplatz (then called ''Opernplatz'') infamous on 10 May 1933, when he used the square across from Humboldt University to burn 20,000 books by "immoral" authors of whom the Nazis did not approve. Their list included Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Arnold Zwei

g, Kurt Tucholsky and Sigmund Freud. Today a monument is the reminder, though it blames Nazi students for the episode. When entering the square it's easy to miss the monument. Look dead centre: the monument is underground. A piece of plexiglass allows the viewer to look underground into a large, white room, filled with entirely empty, blank white bookcases. The absence of books reminds the viewer just what was lost here: ideas. But the event did reveal things to come, as ethnically Jewish author and philosopher Heinrich Heine, whose books were burned, let one of his characters say in an 1821 play: "This was only the foreplay. Where they burn books, they will also burn people." He was correct.

Listen to the audio guide for Bebelplatz Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off

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