H eadlines
Annniversary of Nazi Book Burning Marked
L OCA L
ELEANOR LINAFELT | JE FEATURE
THE NAZIS HELD their first
book burning on May 10, 1933,
destroying texts they deemed
“un-German,” including those
by Jewish, liberal and leftist
authors. Eighty-eight years later,
Ph i ladelph ia pol it icia ns,
community leaders and students
marked the anniversary of the
event by reading and distrib-
uting texts that were on the
Nazi banned list, as well as
those by contemporary authors
fighting racism and antisemi-
tism today.

The Philadelphia Holocaust
Remembrance Foundation,
Friends Select School and The
Philadelphia Citizen co-hosted
the “History is an Open
Book” event at the Horwitz-
Wasserman Holocaust
Memorial Plaza in Center
Eszter Kutas speaks at “History is an Open Book.”
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“Students are going to play a critical role in
making sure that our society is heading in the
right direction. The example of the Nazi youth is
a historical warning.”
ESZTER KUTAS
City. The celebration of litera-
ture and education promoted
freedom of expression and
uplifted historically marginal-
ized people.

PHRF Executive Director
Eszter Kutas opened the event
by providing a brief history of
the Nazi book burnings, which
she argued were one of the
lesser-known starting points of
the Holocaust.

Kutas then told the story of
Magnus Hirschfeld, a German
Jewish physician and sexolo-
gist whose work that supported
LGBTQ people was destroyed
in the book burnings.

“He was a Jewish man but,
most importantly, he was an
advocate for others. This story
shows us how loss was not
singular to the Jewish commu-
nity and the Holocaust was
not singular to the Jewish
4 MAY 13, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
community either,” Kutas said.

“His legacy demonstrates how
marginalized communities
can help one another.”
The PHRF organized
“History is an Open Book”
with that principle in mind.

“Our foundation has
broadened our mission to
concentrate not only on the
Holocaust, but to make those
lessons relevant to our society
today,” Kutas said. “We are
giving a nod to our historic
past but also concentrating on
those people who are fighting
the right fight today.”
Middle and high school
students from Friends Select,
a Quaker pre-K-12 school in
Center City, read throughout
the event. The PHRF wanted
to include students to educate
them on this piece of history,
and acknowledge the fact that
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Books offered in the giveaway at the book burning anniversary event
Photos by Eleanor Linafelt
university students partici-
pated in the book burnings.

“Students are going to play
a critical role in making sure
that our society is heading in
the right direction,” Kutas said.

“Th e example of the Nazi youth
is a historical warning.”
Th is was the fi rst year
that the event was held, and
multiple speakers acknowl-
edged its relevance to today’s
political climate.

Shira Goodman, the regional
director of the Anti-Defamation
League Philadelphia, who also
read at the event, noted that over
the past several years there have
been spikes in antisemitism and
increases in white supremacist
activity in the region.

“It’s important to come
together in ways that counter
those forces,” she said. “We can
do that by reading these words
and giving out these books.”
Others who read and spoke
at the event were Larry Platt,
editor and co-founder of Th e
Philadelphia Citizen; City
Controller Rebecca Rhynhart;
Councilpersons Derek Green,
Allan Domb and Jamie
Gauthier; and Commissioner
of Philadelphia Parks &
Recreation Kathryn Ott Lovell.

R hy nhar t
prefaced her reading from Isabel
Wilkerson’s 2020 book “Caste”
with a refl ection on how its
description of the unspoken
racial caste system in the
United States resonated with
her as a Jewish woman. She
explained how Nazi Germany
looked to the racist systems of
the U.S. for inspiration.

“How disgusting is that?”
Rhynhart said. “We need to
understand the darkness and
racism in the history of our
country in order to fully break
it down.”
Th e event concluded with a
giveaway of books, including
“Caste,” as well other texts that
combat racism, antisemitism
and bigotry, such as “Night”
by Elie Wiesel, “How to Be an
Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
and “Malala’s Magic Pencil” by
Malala Yousafzai.

Kutas hoped that the
readings and
giveaway informed attendees about the
book burnings and encour-
aged them to continue to resist
intolerance and oppression.

“Our goal is to deepen
people’s historical under-
standing, but also to have them
walk away with a sense of how
important it is to stand up for
what is right so that we can live
in a more tolerant society,” she
said. ●
Eleanor Linafelt is a freelance writer.

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