Evening star., 1933-05-17
Cermany's Burning of Books
Held Blow to National Spirit

Pride Of Germany In its culture and
its many contributions to the thought
Of the world are believed by the Amer
ican public to have suffered a drastic
regime of books which do not conform
to the Fascist ideas. It Is conceded
that some priceless books have fed the
flames, but the suppression of thought
Is declared to be among the futile
things of all time. It Is also pointed
out that copies Of such books as are
valuable exist in other countries.
Time was" recalls the Salt Lake
Deseret News, when students Of chem
istry, philology, anthropology and pSy-
chology felt their educations not COM
plete until they had mastered German
and read the works of the great minds
of that country in the original They
turn away from the indecency with a
feeling of horror The silly gesture OF
the NaZi party recalls the acts of the
Spanish conquistadores when they came
upon the writings Of the Mayas in
Mexico and Central America, and feel
ing them to be the records Of devil
public places and destroyed records OF
mcalculable worth. OF course, no such
damage results from this infantile Gel
ebration, for the books have all been
scattered abroad and find their places
in the libraries of the world"
"A people distinguished among all
its neighbors for its breadth Of knowl-
edge and range of intellectual interest, u
observes the Providence Journal, sud
denly writes itself down as not merely
national in its Limitation, but
actually provincial" That paper adds
that the best friends Of Hitler at home
and abroad must look on with mingled
amaZement and distress" The Spring
field (Mass) Republican feels that III
the NaI censors had limited them
selves to q moral house cleaning they
would have got applause abroad as well
as at home" but that their absorp-
ton in their own fanatical doctrines
anathema, makes their index expurga-
torius grotesque."
THE German nation" according to
the Columbia Is. c. State. sis based
on books, mortised and tenoned in
books, lived In and by books, more than
any other people in history" That
paper suggests that lone would have
supposed they would reverence their
books, honor the very word book and
set up books in their agoras to wor-
ship instead of the borrowed Morse
gods" The State quotes Milton in
the 'last word" on the subject: "A good
book Is the precious lifeblood OF q
master spirit, embalmed and treasured
up on purpose to life beyond life. AS
good almost kill man as kill good
book; who kills a man kills q reason
able creature, Gods image; but he who
Iii
The Columbia paper states that many
Of the burned books were immortal,
and some Of them cannot be replaced.
1t comments on history: "As the an
cient world never retrieved the loss of
the library Of Alexandra, it is quite
possible that Germans may never en-
tirely recapture what they have lost in
this furious destruction Of books, the
very things in which the German spirit
lives, through which 1t works its will
upon the world, and achieves its own
fame"
AS to volumes on present conditions.
the New York Times points out: Many
books have been written since the
armistice to show that German fright
fulness was q hideous slander. The
real German spirit expresses itself in
industry, thrift, order, peace, and a
thinking. These protests have now
been cast into the flames. Every year
that passes has seen more and more
books about Germany written in a
spirit Of growing friendship by Ameri-
cans, Enghshmen, Frenchmen and other
former opponents Of Germany or
neutral. The new Germany Of the
last three months has been destroying
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