TU Dresden reflects on its history: Critical campus tour to commemorate the book burning 90 years ago

On May 10, 1933, books written by Jewish authors or that were deemed politically undesirable by the Nazi regime were burned in numerous German university towns – including Dresden. The public book burnings were the culmination of a campaign “wider den undeutschen Geist” (“against un-German spirit”) organized by the Nazi-dominated German Students’ Union (Deutsche Studentenschaft). May 2023 marks the 90^th anniversary of the book burnings in Germany. To commemorate this dark day in German history, TU Dresden and the Saxon State and University Library (SLUB) are organizing a critical campus tour on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

“In contrast to the first book burning in Dresden organized by the Sturmabteilung (SA) on Wettiner Platz, the book burning organized by students on May 10, 1933, is less entrenched in the collective memory of the city. With this campus tour, we want to raise public consciousness for this historical event and shed light on the actions and involvement of the students and university lecturers of what was then called Technische Hochschule Dresden,” explains Prof. Roswitha Böhm, Vice-Rector University Culture of TU Dresden.

The book burning took place at the Bismarck Column on Räcknitzhöhe, only a stone’s throw from the university campus. The then-Rector of Technische Hochschule Dresden, Oskar Reuther, as well as professors and students, officers, SA members, and representatives of the press were all present at the time. Against the backdrop of inflammatory speeches, the works of Erich Kästner, Heinrich Mann, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and Kurt Tucholsky, among others, were burned to the sound of applause. This led the way to a “purging” of Dresden’s libraries and a public smear campaign against university members who had fallen out of favor.

“TU Dresden is strongly committed to examining the history of our university. In the near future, we will be researching Technische Hochschule Dresden’s history in the 20th century from various perspectives with a specially established Research Training Group and will be reexamining the univeristy’s role in National Socialism,” Böhm continues.

Dr. Hagen Schönrich, historian and one of two research coordinators for the project, will lead the tour on May 13. This will start at 11 a.m. at the Salvador-Allende-Denkmal Memorial on Münchner Platz. From there, the tour will stop at various locations on the TUD campus, finishing at the Bismarck Column. In addition to addressing the book burning itself, Dr. Schönrich will go on to talk about the role of research, teaching and administration at Technische Hochschule Dresden during the Nazi era and how it was handled later.

In addition to the campus tour, on May 11, 2023, there will be a public lecture titled "Scorched Places", addressing the culture of remembrance. The photographer and founder of the memorial project, Jan Schenck, will present the lecture and discuss the topic with the audience. The event will start at 6:00 pm in the SLUB’s Klemperer Hall.

More information about the event and the registration form are available here.

Contakt:
Elisabeth Krollpfeiffer
Directorat University Culture
Unit University & Society
Tel.: +49 351 463-32485
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