Poem Remembering May 10, 1933: Book Burning in Berlin

  BERLIN:  BIBELPLATZ [Bebelplatz]

                                                           Remembering May 10, 1933

                                                 The plaza of the Alt Bibliothek.

A girl with backpack

peers through a window 

in the pavement -- 

into a small floodlit room below.

                                                 White shelves line four walls.  

                                                 Empty.

                                                 Close by, a plaque 

                                                 recalls a night of bonfires

                                                 fueled by volumes

                                                 with forbidden words,

written by forbidden hands

and a quote from Heinrich Heine -

Who burns minds

May soon burn men.

Heinrich Heine, poet and essayist, 1797-1856  

“Das war ein vorspeil nur, 

dort womain bucher

Verebrennt

verebrennt man am end 

auch menschen.”

Thank you to Thelma Morris for sharing this poem with us.  Thelma wrote the poem after visiting the plaza in Berlin, site of the burning of some 20,000 books by the Nazis.