Elizabeth Dilling
Isolationism and the Mother's Movement
The America First Committee
Isolationism and the Holocaust
Christians Prevented American Intervention
Heritage Foundation defends Hitler in Newsletter

Book Banning (Burning)

In the lead-up to World War II, the Nazi regime systematically targeted literature that they deemed "un-German," launching a campaign against books that contradicted their ideology. This included works that explored themes of socialism, communism, or any criticism of the regime itself. As they gathered in public squares to burn these books, the Nazis chanted, "No to decadence and moral corruption!" This chilling mantra served as a rallying cry against what they perceived as foreign influences that threatened the moral fabric of German society. The destruction of these texts was not just an act of censorship; it was a calculated effort to control the narrative and ensure that only state-approved ideas permeated the cultural landscape.

Today, similar tactics can be observed in the efforts of groups like Moms for Liberty, which seek to censor educational content in schools under the guise of protecting children. Their campaigns often target books that address topics related to race, gender, and diverse perspectives, echoing the historical suppression of ideas that challenge the status quo. Just as the Nazis sought to eliminate what they considered corrupting influences, modern-day censors argue that certain materials are inappropriate for young audiences. This parallel raises important questions about the nature of freedom, the role of education, and the ongoing struggle over who gets to determine what is deemed acceptable in our society.

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Beginning on May 10, 1933, Nazi-dominated student groups carried out public burnings of books they claimed were “un-German.”

The book burnings took place in 34 university towns and cities. Works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers ended up in the bonfires. The book burnings stood as a powerful symbol of Nazi intolerance and censorship.

At the meeting places, students threw the pillaged and “unwanted” books onto bonfires with great ceremony, band-playing, and so-called “fire oaths.” In Berlin, some 40,000 persons gathered in the Opernplatz to hear Joseph Goebbels deliver a fiery address: “No to decadence and moral corruption!” Goebbels enjoined the crowd. “Yes to decency and morality in family and state! I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann, Ernst Gläser, Erich Kästner.”
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Whose Books were Burned?

Among the authors whose books student leaders burned that night were well-known socialists such as Bertolt Brecht and August Bebel; the founder of the concept of communism, Karl Marx; critical “bourgeois” writers like the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler; and “corrupting foreign influences,” among them American author Ernest Hemingway.

The fires also consumed several writings of the 1929 Nobel Prize-winning German author Thomas Mann, whose support of the Weimar Republic and critique of fascism raised Nazi ire. Also burned were works of international best-selling author Erich Maria Remarque. Nazi ideologies vilified Remarque's unflinching description of war, All Quiet on the Western Front, as "a literary betrayal of the soldiers of the World War." Works by early German literary critics of the Nazi regime were also burned, such as those of Erich Kästner (wrote the Parent Trap), Heinrich Mann, and Ernst Gläser

Other writers included on the blacklists were American authors Jack London (The Call of the Wild, White Fang), Theodore Dreiser, and Helen Keller, whose belief in social justice encouraged her to champion the disabled, pacifism, improved conditions for industrial workers, and women's voting rights.

Jewish authors numbered among the writers whose works were burned, among them some of the most famous contemporary writers of the day, such as Franz Werfel, Max Brod, and Stefan Zweig.

Among those works burned were the writings of beloved nineteenth-century German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who wrote in his 1820–1821 play Almansor the famous admonition, “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen": "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people."

Heine also had a book called Atta Troll

“As the story progresses, Atta Troll falls in love with a swan named Cygne and the two embark on a romantic journey together. However, their love is threatened by the prejudices and biases of the other animals, who do not believe that a bear and a swan can be together. Throughout the poem, Heine uses Atta Troll's story as a vehicle for his own social and political commentary. He satirizes German nationalism, the aristocracy, and the bourgeoisie, and criticizes the oppressive nature of German society. At the same time, he celebrates the power of love and the transformative power of art.”

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Today's Anti-LGBTQ+ books

Publishers such as Brave Books promote anti-LGBTQ+ ideology to children, especially against transgenderism.

"BRAVE Books and Ashley St. Clair partnered to write Elephants Are Not Birds, a Christian, Conservative children's book that tackles the topic of gender identity. In the book, children will learn that boys are not girls, and elephants are not birds.

In every BRAVE Book, we partner with people of moral integrity, to teach complex Christian and Conservative values.

Follow Kevin as he learns that even though he can sing, he is not a bird, even if Culture insists that he is. In the back of the book, there are fun games and discussion questions that will help instill the values taught in the story. "

Evangelical CD Burning

Ever since the early 2000s, and probably even earlier, many evangelical schools and churches hold bonfire events where they encourage their students or members to bring in demonic or secular material. I've witnessed one of these myself in the early 2000s as a child, where my peers threw away their CDs into a pit of fire.