Book Burning: A Modern Tale
"All literature is dangerous to a regime that fears the free flow of ideas."
In front of the Opera House in Berlin, a chanting crowd burns books while Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minster of propaganda and public information, speaks of the intended "reeducation" of Germany. In this short film, a Holocaust survivor, an Iranian author, an American literary critic, and two Museum historians discuss the Nazi book burnings and why totalitarian regimes often target culture, particularly literature.