Alon Confino's Why Did The Nazis Burn The Hebrew Bible

Which aspects of society make it great? Some say the diversity of opinions, ideas, and identities is one of the contributing factors. One group of people who disagreed with this was the Nazi Party of Germany from 1936-1945. The people of this ideology prioritized social conformity to keep the gears of their society turning. Whether or not this was a proper way to run society can be inferred by the outcome of their ideology, but that isn’t the subject at hand. Although many see the book burnings of the Nazi party as just a show of force, it was an attempt by the regime to force social homogeneity amongst those with different political, religious, and sexual identities and ideas. Firstly, the Nazis attempted to snuff out dissenting

Although their heinous actions towards the Jews in the latter half of World War II is a prime example of this, it could have also been seen earlier on through their choice to ban books that were important to the Jewish faith and that were created by prominent Jewish figures. The burning of important religious books can be seen in Alon Confino’s Why Did the Nazis Burn the Hebrew Bible? Nazi Germany, Representations of the Past, and the Holocaust in which he says that the Nazis burned thousands of copies of the Hebrew Bible on November 9 and 10, 1938 throughout Germany (Alon, 370). The Hebrew Bible is a collection of Hebrew scriptures that are important for both the Jewish and Christian faiths. The Nazis wanted the people of Germany to see the dictatorship as a religion with cult-like regard for the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. The religions of Christianity and Judaism were extremely popular in Germany and challenged the authority the party wanted. Consequently, the totalitarian state tried its hardest to censor these beliefs. One of the methods of censorship was the burning of books that were crucial to the

In Where They Burn Books by Stephen J. Whitfield, the author gives a list of commonly targeted authors: “Among the authors were Sholom Asch, Max Brod, Albert Einstein, Lion Feuchtwanger, Sigmund Freud, Franz Kafka, Franz Werfel, Arnold Zweig, Stefan Zweig and Heine himself” (Whitfield, 219). The one thing these authors all had in common was that they were either of Jewish descent or practiced the religion. The Nazis likely burned these books by these authors trying to silence the voices of those within the Jewish community. These authors may have tried to speak out against the brutality of the regime or share their religion with others. Additionally, the Nazis made this decision to stunt the careers of Jewish authors. Many of these authors were not only novelists but also scientists. Without this very crucial publicity, both of these groups would have failed to make a living and would have had a harder time advancing in their respective fields. This may have made it more financially viable to recount one’s beliefs if they were Jewish and contributed to the Nazi’s desire for religious