Memorial to the Burning of Books by the Nazis Two memorial plaques situated in the green area parallel to the Isebekkanal in Kaiser-Friedrich-Ufer. Reference to the Burning of Books in relief on the base of the Heine Statue in Rathausmarkt. On the 15th May 1933 the Nazis staged the burning of books inKaiser-Friedrich-Ufer. This deplorable, staged action, was a significant step on the way to the Nazi totalitarian state. The Nazis ordered that "undeutsche" ("non-German") books be collected and thrown onto a pile. Several youths helped themselves to books they wished to read. At 11 p.m. the heap of books was set alight. Such a small group of people had assembled in Kaiser-Friedrich-Ufer that the ghastly scene was not even suitable for the purpose of propaganda. Nevertheless, the event was reported in the press so that everyone had the opportunity of being informed of what to expect of their new rulers. After the war it was possible for Hamburg to argue for a reduction of guilt, there having been so few Hamburg citizens present at the book burning. What is significant is that there were no protests. Because the event was badly organized by the Nazi Party they decided to organize a second burning of books. On the 30th May 1933, several thousand "Hitlerjugend" (HJ), ("Hitler Youth") and "Bund Deutscher Mädel" (BDM), and other Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), (Nazi Party) members were ordered to assemble on the Lübeckertorfeld, to witness the burning of books by Kurt Tucholsky and Erich Maria Remarque, Lenin and Egon Erwin Kisch. Books by Jewish authors from Hamburg, for example Heinz Liepmann, were also thrown into the flames. A leader of the Hitler Youth, standing at the edge of the pyre, shouted: "Wir müssen den Kampf ansagen, allem, was uns hemmt, so zu sein, wie wir müssen." ("We must declare the fight against that which impedes us from being what we must be"). Books by critical authors, and especially Jewish authors, were unscrupulously removed from public libraries, and were also no longer displayed in bookshops. School textbooks were also "gesäubert" ("cleansed"), a destructive action, whose long-term effect first became apparent in the post-war period. Many of the books that were burnt were not re-published, and many authors remain in oblivion. The macabre incineration was conclusive evidence that there was no longer any place for Jewish artists and intellectuals in such a barbaric Germany. They no longer had any possibility of performance or publication, and many friends disassociated themselves. Many had no alternative but to go into exile. The Nazis had made an important step in getting the population familiarized with what became the daily terror. Step by step, numerous such actions, destroyed German humanity and culture. It was still possible, at this early stage of Nazi rule, to register protest and solidarity with persecuted, especially Jewish, fellow citizens. However, the German inteligentia either remained silent or cheered as books, containing their culture, were burnt. "Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher Verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menchen." ("That was only a prelude, there where books are burnt, ultimately people are burnt.") This sentence appears in Heinrich Heine's tragic drama "Almansor". A spanish Moslem pronounces this during the burning of the Koran on a funeral pyre, by Catholics. He could not have foreseen how this was to become future reality in his home country of Germany. The burning of books is recounted, in relief, on the base of the Heine Statue in Rathausmarkt.