Philosophy 25

“Those who burn books will in the end burn people.”

Quote translated after: Heinrich Heine (1823): Almansor. Eine Tragödie, DHA, Vol. 5, p. 3. Picture: By Moritz Daniel Oppenheim. Wikimedia. Creative Commons.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) was a critical, political publicist of Jewish origin. He was banned from publishing in Prussia in 1833 and 1835, which is why he moved to Paris. He was treated with hostility throughout his life for his Jewish origins and his political stance.

The quote comes from Heine's tragedy "Almansor". In the present day, it is often referred to the book burnings of 1933. The chronologically closer context is the Wartburg Festival in 1817, where around 500 students gathered. Inspired by the French Revolution and the declaration of human and civil rights in 1789, these were also demanded here. The Wartburg Festival is regarded as an important event of early political liberalism and the German national movement. In contrast to these liberal aspirations, books by unpopular authors were symbolically burned at the festival. These included the book "Die Germanomanie" by the Jewish publicist Saul Ascher (1767-1822), which was critical of nationalism. Heine and others criticized the Wartburg Festival for the reactionary and anti-Semitic views spread there.

*Shlomo Avineri (2017): Where They Have Burned Books, They Will End Up Burning People. *Willi Goetschel (2019): Heine and Critical Theory. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

1823