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Burning Books… Again?

Look at the two pictures above: Both pictures depict the same thing; the burning of books. One was taken in Nazi Germany in 1933, the other was taken earlier this year in Tennessee, USA. Which one is which? Ok, the colour gives it away, but apart from that, these two images are eerily similar. Is history repeating itself?

In 1933, the books that were burned are now considered classics of German literature from famous authors such as Heinrich Mann and the children’s book author Erich Kästner. In addition to the obvious anti-Jewish sentiment, there was a fear among the far right that they were being attacked by the ideas of left-wing academics: “The state has been conquered! But not yet the universities! The intellectual paramilitaries are coming in. Raise your flags!”

In last week’s book burning, J. K. Rowling’s children’s book Harry Potter was given to the flames, along with Twilight and many other books. But it doesn’t stop there: A few weeks earlier, a Tennessee school board voted to remove Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel Maus from its district. The novel depicts Jews and mice, Nazis as cats and Poles as pigs, and recounts the experience of Spiegelman’s parents in the Holocaust and it really makes one think. It’s an excellent book. The reason for its removal was that it was too disturbing – I wonder what’s wrong with a book about the Holocaust being disturbing? If a book about the Holocaust was not disturbing, I would find that problematic. As the book’s author Art Spiegelman says: “This is disturbing imagery. But you know what? It’s disturbing history.”

History should be disturbing, because it’s filled with horrors that we need to learn about. If history makes us all warm, fuzzy and proud inside, then we’re probably consuming propaganda, not history. By removing any potential for discomfort from our children’s history education, we are doing them a disservice. The way we build a better world is to critically and honestly examine the past to learn from it.

Editorial by Jan van der Crabben