Verbrannte Orte – Bücherverbrennung 1933 in Deutschland

In the organizer's words:

The exhibition "Burnt Places - Book Burning 1933 in Germany" shows the places where book burnings took place in the present day. At some well-known locations, many of which are in large cities, memorials remind us of what happened here. However, the majority of the more than 160 historical sites, especially in rural areas, have a little-noticed niche existence. Most places lack a physical reminder, for example in the form of a memorial plaque.
Local remembrance initiatives keep the memory alive, for example on May 10 every year with readings from the burned books of persecuted authors, but beyond that one day, many places are not marked as the site of a Nazi book burning.
The "Burnt Places" project has set itself the goal of documenting these places and providing them with background information and historical material, thus making the invisible visible. The project also observes the sites of the book burnings as places where social attitudes towards democracy, remembrance and freedom of expression are negotiated.

On May 30, 1933, books were burned on Hansaplatz. The action was largely prepared by Dr. Hans Woelbing, a teacher at the former Bismarck-Realgymnasium (the predecessor of today's Max-Planck-Gymnasium), and took place with the participation of pupils. A good 90 years later, 35 former pupils and teachers of the Max-Planck-Gymnasium are supporting the photographic documentation of Hansaplatz by the Verein Verbrannte Orte (Burnt Places Association). To commemorate the event, we are showing the exhibition "Burnt Places - Book Burning in Germany in 1933" first at the vhs and then at the Max Planck Gymnasium. The exhibition will be accompanied by an event on the Woelbing case and a reading on Hansaplatz.

Free guided tours of the exhibition: Friday, May 8 at 2 p.m., Monday, May 11 at 11 a.m., Tuesday, May 26 at 12 p.m. and Saturday, May 30 at 2 p.m.

In cooperation with: Arbeitsstelle Zukunft braucht Erinnerung - Jugendring Dortmund, Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Steinwache, Max-Planck-Gymnasium Dortmund, Verbrannte Orte e.V.