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Like every totalitarian regime, Nazi Germany tried to control intellectual freedom through book censorship.
Between 1933 and 1945, the Hitler regime orchestrated a massive campaign to take control of all forms of communication. In 1933 alone, there were 90 book burnings across 70 German cities, declared by a Ministry of Propaganda official to be “a symbol of the revolution.” In later years, the regime used less violent means of domination, pillaging bookstores and libraries, in addition to prosecuting uncooperative publishers and dissident authors. Guenter Lewy deftly analyzes the various strategies that the Nazis employed to enact censorship and the government officials who led the attack on a free intellectual life. Harmful and Undesirable paints a fascinating portrait of intellectual life under Nazi dictatorship, detailing the dismal fate of those who were caught in the wheels of censorship.
1. Introduction
2. The Book-Burning of 1933
Part I. The Agencies of Control
3. The Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda
4. The Reich Chamber of Literature
5. Gestapo and SD
6. The Party Commission for the Protection of National Socialist Literature
7. Alfred Rosenberg: Hitler's Plenipotentiary for Ideological Education
Part II. The Practice of Censorship
8. The Reasons for Banning Books
9. Jewish Books
10. The Purge of the Libraries
11. Wartime Censorship
12. The Battle for Turf
Part III. The Impact of Censorship
13. The Inner Emigration
14. Conclusion
Abbreviations and Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Description
Like every totalitarian regime, Nazi Germany tried to control intellectual freedom through book censorship.
Between 1933 and 1945, the Hitler regime orchestrated a massive campaign to take control of all forms of communication. In 1933 alone, there were 90 book burnings across 70 German cities, declared by a Ministry of Propaganda official to be “a symbol of the revolution.” In later years, the regime used less violent means of domination, pillaging bookstores and libraries, in addition to prosecuting uncooperative publishers and dissident authors. Guenter Lewy deftly analyzes the various strategies that the Nazis employed to enact censorship and the government officials who led the attack on a free intellectual life. Harmful and Undesirable paints a fascinating portrait of intellectual life under Nazi dictatorship, detailing the dismal fate of those who were caught in the wheels of censorship.
