Bücher aus dem Feuer

In the organizer's words:

May 10, 1933 was a fateful day for many people in Germany. From one day to the next, they lost their livelihoods. Because on May 10, 1933 - 92 years ago - professors and students burned books by hundreds of authors on blazing pyres. Across Germany, the National Socialists organized these fires in large squares - such as Königsplatz in Munich - as an "overall action" against the intellectual "spirit of decomposition".

For many years, public readings from these "burnt books" have been organized throughout Germany on 10 May: Once again this year, texts that were once burned will be read on Odeonsplatz on May 10.

On Saturday, May 10, 2025, readings of once-burned texts will commemorate the authors despised by the National Socialists, starting at 12 noon. Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter, Ricci Hohlt, Christian Springer, Julia Schmitt-Thiel and Udo Wachtveitl, among others, will read from books that were once burned and thus commemorate the works and their authors.

A broad alliance against forgetting
The memorial reading has been taking place on Odeonsplatz on May 10 since 2008. The project was initiated by Gerhard Schmitt-Thiel. After his death in March 2024, Helena Nitsche organized the event together with Renate Hausdorf in collaboration with and with the support of the City of Munich's Department of Culture . They are supported by the Paul-Klinger-Künstlersozialwerk e.V. and the Mohr-Villa Freimann e.V. and Global Understanding e.V. associations.

Organizer Helena emphasizes the special importance of the memorial reading:
"In many European countries - including here in Germany - there has been a strong shift to the right in political parties in recent years. And the censorship of books is also very popular again today: in the USA, for example, books are banned from the school canon if they do not agree with the values of those in power. Erich Kästner, whose books were also burned in 1933, warned: 'You must not wait until the snowball has turned into an avalanche. You have to crush the rolling snowball - no one will stop the avalanche'. The books burned in 1933 conveyed values, knowledge and stories that the Nazi regime wanted to withhold from the German population. Today, we are in the fortunate position of being able to read a large proportion of these texts again. And that is exactly what we want to do: We read in memory of the once ostracized authors whose works should never have been banned. And we read as a warning, because such an attack on artistic freedom, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, on the foundations of democracy, must never happen again."

Long Night of Music on May 10 at Odeonsplatz
The Long Night of Music will also take place in Munich on May 10, 2025: There will be over 400 concerts and cultural program items to experience at a good 90 venues throughout the city. From 12 noon to midnight, the event will have an information and ticket desk as well as food and drink outlets on Odeonsplatz, making it an ideal complement to the reading against forgetting.

Remembrance also online

During the corona pandemic, we collected video readings on the Instagram and Facebook channels of Lesung gegen das Vergessen as well as the YouTube channels of Paul-Klinger-Künstlersozialwerk e.V. and Mohr-Villa Freimann.

People from all over the world are called upon to upload a video to their social media accounts on May 10, 2025, in which they present an excerpt from a book that fell victim to the book burning and tag it with the hashtags #gegenvergessen and #10mai1933. The official Instagram and Facebook channels of the reading against forgetting will share the published readings. In this way, attention and awareness is also created online for the texts that were burned 93 years ago and are still important and valuable.

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