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==Historical background== The burning of books has a long history of being a tool utilized by authorities both [[civil authority|secular]] and [[Religion|religious]], in their efforts to suppress [[dissent]]ing or [[heresy|heretical]] views that are believed to pose a [[threat]] to the prevailing order. Books infested with [[bookworm (insect)|bookworm]]s were sometimes burned in the Medieval era as a rudimentary form of [[pest control]], rather than targeted censorship.<ref name=Frenemies>Sajic, Andrijana. [https://www.metmuseum.org/articles/book-lovers "A Book's Best Frenemy"]. [[Met Museum]], 24 February 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2024.</ref> === Hebrew Bible (7th century BCE) === [[File:Jehoiakim Burns the Word of God (Bible Card).jpg|thumb|alt=A graphical depiction of Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah's scroll.|King [[Jehoiakim]] burns [[Jeremiah]]'s scroll.]] According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], in the [[7th century BCE]], King [[Jehoiakim]] of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] burned part of a scroll that [[Baruch ben Neriah]] had written at prophet [[Jeremiah]]'s dictation (see [[Jeremiah 36]]). === Burning of books and burying of scholars in China (213–210 BCE) === [[File:Killing the Scholars, Burning the Books.jpg|thumb|[[Burning of books and burying of scholars|''Killing the Scholars and Burning the Books'']] in 210–213 BC (18th-century Chinese painting)]] The burning of books as a means of government control goes back to Shang Yang, who had exhorted Duke Xiao of Qin in the fourth century BCE to burn books.{{sfn|Polastron|2007|p=86}} In 213 BCE [[Qin Shi Huang]], the first emperor of the [[Qin dynasty]], ordered the [[burning of books and burying of scholars]] and in 210 BCE he supposedly ordered the [[premature burial]] of 460 Confucian scholars in order to stay on his throne.<ref name="smithsonian">{{cite news |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-book-burning-printing-press-internet-archives-180964697/ |title=A Brief History of Book Burning, From the Printing Press to Internet Archives |last=Boissoneault |first=Lorraine |date=August 31, 2017 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904210642/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-book-burning-printing-press-internet-archives-180964697/ |archive-date=September 4, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19922863 |title=Qin Shi Huang: The ruthless emperor who burned books |date=October 15, 2012 |website=BBC News |access-date=October 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301030738/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19922863 |archive-date=March 1, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2491 |title=The First Emperor of China Destroys Most Records of the Past Along with 460, or More, Scholars |website=History of Information |access-date=October 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524154937/https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2491 |archive-date=May 24, 2021}}</ref> Though the burning of books is well established, the [[Premature burial|live burial]] of scholars has been disputed by modern historians who doubt the details of the story, which first appeared more than a century later in the Han dynasty official [[Sima Qian]]'s ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]''. The event caused the loss of many philosophical treatises of the [[Hundred Schools of Thought]], with only treatises on agriculture and medicine as well as a collection of divinations allowed to survive.{{sfn|Polastron|2007|pp=85–87}} Treatises which advocated the official philosophy of the government ("[[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|legalism]]") survived.{{Citation needed|reason=|date=February 2025}} === Christian book burnings (80–1759 CE) === In the [[New Testament]]'s [[Acts of the Apostles]], it is claimed that [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] performed an [[exorcism]] in Ephesus. After men in Ephesus failed to perform the same feat many gave up their "curious arts" and burned the books because apparently, they did not work. <blockquote> And many that believed, came and confessed and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Acts|19:18–20|KJV}}</ref> </blockquote> After the [[First Council of Nicea]] (325 CE), Roman emperor [[Constantine the Great]] issued an [[edict]] against [[nontrinitarian]] [[Arians]] which included a prescription for systematic book-burning: <blockquote> "In addition, if any writing composed by [[Arius]] should be found, it should be handed over to the flames, so that not only will the wickedness of his teaching be obliterated, but nothing will be left even to remind anyone of him. And I hereby make a public order, that if someone should be discovered to have hidden a writing composed by Arius, and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed it by fire, his penalty shall be death. As soon as he is discovered in this offense, he shall be submitted for capital punishment....."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Athanasius |date=2010-01-23 |title=Fourth Century Christianity » Part of an edict against Arius and his followers |url=https://www.fourthcentury.com/urkunde-33/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819215807/http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/urkunde-33 |archive-date=2011-08-19 |access-date=2012-05-02 |website=Fourth Century Christianity |publisher=[[Wisconsin Lutheran College]]}}</ref></blockquote> Nevertheless, Constantine's edict on Arian works was not rigorously observed, as Arian writings or the theology based on them survived to be burned much later in Spain. According to the [[Chronicle of Fredegar]], [[Recared]], [[Visigothic Kingdom|King of the Visigoths]] (reigned 586–601) and first Catholic king of [[Hispania|Spain]], following his conversion to [[Catholicism]] in 587, ordered that all [[Arian]] books should be collected and burned; and all the books of Arian theology were reduced to ashes, along with the house in which they had been purposely collected.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McMillan |first1=Duncan |url= |title=Guillaume d'Orange and the chanson de geste : essays presented to Duncan McMillan in celebration of his seventieth birthday by his friends and colleagues of the Société Rencesvals |last2=van Emden |first2=Wolfgang |last3=Bennett |first3=Philip E |last4=Kerr |first4=Alexander |last5=Société Rencesvals |date=1984 |publisher=University of Reading |isbn=978-0-7049-0927-4 |location=Reading |oclc=18225186}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32017316 |title=The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire |date=1994 |publisher=Allen Lane, Penguin Press |others=David Womersley |isbn=0-7139-9124-0 |location=London |oclc=32017316 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607185545/https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/oclc/32017316 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Elaine Pagels]], "In AD 367, [[Athanasius]], the zealous bishop of [[Alexandria]]... issued an Easter letter in which he demanded that [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Egyptian monks]] destroy all such unacceptable writings, except for those he specifically listed as 'acceptable' even 'canonical'—a list that constitutes the present 'New Testament'".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pagels |first=Elaine H. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55641434 |title=Beyond belief : the secret Gospel of Thomas |date=2003 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=978-1-4000-7908-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=176–177 |language=en |oclc=55641434 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607185533/https://www.worldcat.org/title/beyond-belief-the-secret-gospel-of-thomas/oclc/55641434 |url-status=live}}</ref> (Pagels cites Athanasius's Paschal letter (letter 39) for 367 CE, which prescribes a canon, but her citation "cleanse the church from every defilement" (page 177) does not explicitly appear in the Festal letter.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html |title= NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters |publisher= Ccel.org |date= 13 July 2005 |access-date= 21 January 2012 |archive-date= 14 May 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190514223255/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html |url-status= live}}</ref>) Heretical texts do not turn up as [[palimpsest]]s, scraped clean and overwritten, as do many [[Classical literature|texts of Classical antiquity]]. According to author Rebecca Knuth, multitudes of early [[Christianity|Christian]] texts have been as thoroughly "destroyed" as if they had been publicly burnt.{{sfn|Knuth|2006|}}{{Citation needed|reason=Exact page needed, verification not possible|date=February 2025}} In 1759 [[Pope Clement XIII]] banned all publications written by Swedish biologist [[Carl Linnaeus]] from the Vatican, and ordered that all copies of his work be burned.<ref name="MACUNI">{{cite web |last1=Downing |first1=Alison |last2=Atwell |first2=Brian |last3=Downing |first3=Kevin |title=''Sigesbeckia orientalis'' |url=http://bio.mq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/plant-of-the-week-Sigesbeckia-orientalis.pdf |website=Biology-Macquarie University |publisher=Department of Biological Sciences |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119113531/http://bio.mq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/plant-of-the-week-Sigesbeckia-orientalis.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="JTSOR">{{cite web |title=Johann Georg Siegesbeck |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000368452 |website=Global Plants |publisher=[[JSTOR]] |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=14 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214133319/https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000368452 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>In 1774, his successor, [[Pope Clement XIV]], reversed the ban and botanists were invited to present lectures on Linnaeus’ system at the Vatican ([https://bio.mq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/plant-of-the-week-Sigesbeckia-orientalis.pdf source]</ref> === Burning of Nestorian books (435 CE) === Activity by [[Cyril of Alexandria]] ({{circa}} 376–444) brought fire to almost all the writings of [[Nestorius]] (386–450) shortly after 435.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aina.org/books/mokk/mokk.htm#fn1 |title=The Monks of Kublai Khan |publisher=Aina.org |access-date=2017-12-15 |archive-date=29 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229064627/http://www.aina.org/books/mokk/mokk.htm#fn1 |url-status=live}}</ref> 'The writings of Nestorius were originally very numerous',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chapman |first1=John |date=1911 |title=Nestorius and Nestorianism |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10755a.htm |url-status=live |access-date=25 January 2018 |website=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |location=New York |via=[[New Advent]] |archive-date=4 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904014035/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10755a.htm}}</ref> however, they were not part of the Nestorian or Oriental theological curriculum until the mid-sixth century, unlike those of his teacher [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]], and those of [[Diodorus of Tarsus]], even then they were not key texts, so relatively few survive intact.{{sfn|Baum|Winkler|2003|}}{{Citation needed|reason=Exact page needed, verification not possible|date=February 2025}} === Muslim book burnings (650 CE - 15th century CE) === [[Uthman|Uthman ibn 'Affan]], the third [[Caliph]] of Islam after [[Muhammad]], who is credited with overseeing the collection of the verses of the [[Qur'an]], ordered after that in {{circa|650}} the destruction of any other remaining text containing verses of the Qur'an in order to ensure that his version become the only source for others to follow.{{sfn|Polastron|2007|pp=46–47}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/061.sbt.html#006.061.510 |title=Volume 6, Book 61, Number 510 |publisher=Usc.edu |access-date=January 5, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823104808/http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/061.sbt.html#006.061.510 |archive-date=August 23, 2011}}</ref> During the Muslim conquests of the Middle East, many libraries, such as that of [[Caesarea Maritima]], were burned, and during the conquest of [[Khwarazm]] books were destroyed in order to weaken the identity and resistance of the local population.{{sfn|Polastron|2007|pp=45–46}} Books of other religions were also explicitly burned. In 923, [[Manichaeism|Manichean]] books were burned at the public gate of Baghdad together with a portrait of Mani.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gulácsi |first1=Zsuzsanna |title=Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art: A Codicological Study of Iranian And Turkic Illuminated Book Fragments from 8th-11th Century East Central Asia |date=2005 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-13994-7 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ikfnWtpbnyQC |access-date=22 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Similarly, [[Sikandar Shah Miri]], sultan of Kashmir, forced Hindu conversions and burned books in the fifteenth century.{{sfn|Polastron|2007|pp=218–219}} Often books were burned for belonging to another Muslim denominations. During the Abbasid invasion of Oman in 892, the army of [[Muhammad ibn Nur]] burnt books of the [[Ibadism|Ibadis]], which probably also contributed to the paucity of sources on early south-east Arabia's history.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abed |first1=Ibrahim |last2=Hellyer |first2=Peter |title=United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective |date=2001 |publisher=Trident Press Ltd |isbn=978-1-900724-47-0 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QcMz3zV0qAMC |access-date=22 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref>The Sunni Ghaznavid ruler [[Mahmud of Ghazni|Mahmud]] burned after his sack of [[Rayy]] a great part of the city's library books as he considered the books, many of them Shiite, heretical.<ref>{{Encyclopædia Iranica| last = Nagel | first = Tilman | title = Buyids | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/buyids | year = 1990 | volume=4 | fascicle=6 | pages = 578–586 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tetley |first1=G. E. |title=The Ghaznavid and Seljuk Turks: Poetry as a Source for Iranian History |date=27 October 2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-08438-8 |pages=70–71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVV9AgAAQBAJ |access-date=22 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> A similar thing happened during the [[Seljuks]] takeover of [[Buyid]] Baghdad in 1059 when the famous ''[[House of Wisdom|dar al-'ilm]]'' was burned.{{sfn|Polastron|2007|p=58}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Arregui |first1=Aníbal |last2=Mackenthun |first2=Gesa |last3=Wodianka |first3=Stephanie |title=DEcolonial Heritage: Natures, Cultures, and the Asymmetries of Memory |date=2018 |publisher=Waxmann Verlag |isbn=978-3-8309-8790-1 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3v9TDwAAQBAJ |access-date=5 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Books were also burned in Muslim Spain between the tenth and twelfth century under the Ummayyad, Amirid, Abbadid, Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, often of writers that were deemed heretical or a challenge to the rulers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Safran |first1=Janina M. |title=The politics of book burning in al-Andalus |journal=Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies |date=3 July 2014 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=148–168 |doi=10.1080/17546559.2014.925134}}</ref> During the rule of caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub the possession of books on logic or philosophy (''hikma'') was forbidden and many books, including those by the famous [[Ibn Rushd]], burned.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conrad |first1=Lawrence I. |title=The World of Ibn Ṭufayl: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān |date=1996 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-10135-7 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXvhz04I-0YC |access-date=22 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> === French burning of Jewish manuscripts (1244 CE) === In 1244, as an outcome of the [[Disputation of Paris]], twenty-four carriage loads of [[Talmud]]s and other Jewish religious manuscripts were set on fire by [[Kingdom of France|French]] law officers in the streets of Paris.<ref>{{cite book|title= The history of the Talmud, from the time of its formation, about 200 B. C.|first= Michael Levi|last= Rodkinson|pages= 66–75|year= 1918|publisher= Talmud Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Judaism on Trial: Jewish-Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages|url= https://archive.org/details/judaismontrialje00macc|url-access= registration|first= Hyam |last= Maccoby|year= 1982|publisher= Associated University Presses|isbn= 9780838630532}}</ref> === Spanish burning of Aztec and Mayan manuscripts (1560s CE) === During the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas]], numerous books written by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous peoples]] were burned by the Spaniards. Several books{{quantify|date=April 2018}} written by the [[Aztecs]] were burnt by Spanish [[conquistador]]s and priests during the [[Spanish conquest of Yucatán]]. Despite opposition from Catholic friar [[Bartolomé de las Casas]], numerous books found by the Spanish in [[Yucatán Peninsula|Yucatán]] were burnt on the order of Bishop [[Diego de Landa]] in 1562.<ref name="outrageous" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://popular-archaeology.com/article/burning-the-maya-books-the-1562-tragedy-at-mani/ |title=Burning the Maya Books: The 1562 Tragedy at Mani |last=Fery |first=Georges |date=October 23, 2020 |website=Popular Archaeology |access-date=October 16, 2022 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017011911/https://popular-archaeology.com/article/burning-the-maya-books-the-1562-tragedy-at-mani/ |url-status=live }}</ref> De Landa wrote on the incident that "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the [[Maya peoples|Maya]]) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction".<ref name="outrageous" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/277203534 |title=The library : an illustrated history |date=2009 |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]] |others=Nicholas A. Basbanes, American Library Association |isbn=978-1-60239-706-4 |location=New York, New York |page=158 |language=en |oclc=277203534 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407140537/https://www.worldcat.org/title/library-an-illustrated-history/oclc/277203534 |url-status=live}}</ref> === Book burnings in Tudor and Stuart England (16th century CE)=== The founding of the [[Church of England]] after [[Henry VIII|King Henry VIII]] broke away from the Catholic Church led to the targeting of [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|English Catholics]] by [[Protestantism|Protestants]]. The dissolution of the monasteries led to the destruction of many libraries and Edward VI, Henry's son, encouraged his subjects to destroy all books that were associated with "old learning".{{sfn|Polastron|2007|pp=132–135}} Throughout the [[Tudor period|Tudor]] and [[Stuart period]]s, Protestant citizens loyal to [[the Crown]] attacked Catholic religious sites across England, frequently burning any religious texts they found. These acts were encouraged by the Crown, who pressured the general public to take part in such "spectacles". According to American historian David Cressy, over "the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries book burning developed from a rare to an occasional occurrence, relocated from an outdoor to an indoor procedure, and changed from a bureaucratic to a quasi-theatrical performance".<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/20477359|jstor=20477359|title=Book Burning in Tudor and Stuart England|year=2005|last1=Cressy|first1=David|journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal|volume=36|issue=2|pages=359–374|s2cid=190209868 }}</ref> With the [[Bishops' Ban of 1599]] the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and the [[Bishop of London]] ordered an end to the production of verse satire and the confiscation and the burning of specific extant works, including works by [[John Marston (playwright)|John Marston]] and [[Thomas Middleton]]. Nine books were specifically singled out for destruction. Scholars disagree about what properties these nine books have in common to cause official offence. === Burning of Voltaire's books (18th century CE) === During the 18th century, the works of French philosopher and writer [[Voltaire]] were repeatedly burned by government officials in the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of France|France]] and [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]. In 1734, the publication of his ''[[Letters on the English|Lettres philosophiques]]'' in the city of [[Rouen]] led to a public outcry, as it was seen as an attack against the ''[[ancien régime]]'' of France. In response, the French authorities ordered copies of book to be publicly confiscated and burnt, and Voltaire was forced to flee [[Paris]]. In 1751, King of Prussia [[Frederick the Great]] ordered a pamphlet written by Voltaire titled ''[[Doctor Akakia]]'' to be publicly burnt as it insulted [[Pierre Louis Maupertuis]], the president of the [[Prussian Academy of Sciences]] in [[Berlin]], of whom Frederick was a significant patron.<ref> {{Cite book |last=Pearson |first=Roger |url=https://archive.org/details/voltairealmighty00pear |title=Voltaire Almighty: A Life in Pursuit of Freedom |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-58234-630-4 |author-link=Roger Pearson (literary scholar)}} </ref> === Burning of abolitionist books in the American South (1859–60 CE) === Following [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry]] in 1859, slaveholders and their supporters spread panic about [[abolitionism]], believing that anti-slavery conspiracies would lead to widespread slave revolts. Pro-slavery southerners burned books in [[Mississippi]], [[South Carolina]], and [[Texas]], including textbooks from public schools. Books that were critical of slavery, or insufficiently supportive of it, were seen as "anti-Southern" by the book-burners.<ref name="Reynolds2007">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nH-F0iGVO-AC |title=Texas Terror: The Slave Insurrection Panic of 1860 and the Secession of the Lower South |first=Donald E. |last=Reynolds |year=2007 |isbn=9780807135341 |oclc=646807069 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |location=Baton Rouge |pages=20–21 |access-date=21 March 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164815/https://books.google.com/books?id=nH-F0iGVO-AC |url-status=live }}</ref> === Comstock book burnings in the United States (1873–1950 CE)=== [[File:Plaque at Bebelplaz commemorating Nazi book burning, 10 May 1933.jpg|thumb|Plaque at Bebelplaz commemorating Nazi book burning, 10 May 1933]] [[Anthony Comstock]]'s [[New York Society for the Suppression of Vice]], founded in 1873, inscribed book burning on its seal, as a worthy goal to be achieved.<ref name="outrageous" /> Comstock's total accomplishment in a long and influential career is estimated to have been the destruction of some 15 tons of books, 284,000 pounds of plates for printing such "objectionable" books, and nearly 4,000,000 pictures. All of this material was defined as "[[Lascivious|lewd]]" by Comstock's very broad definition of the term – which he and his associates successfully lobbied the [[United States Congress]] to incorporate in the [[Comstock Law]].<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Roth v. United States |vol=354 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=476 |court=2d Cir. |date=1957 |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/354/476.html |access-date=2022-06-06}}</ref> === Nazi regime (1933 CE) === [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-14597, Berlin, Opernplatz, Bücherverbrennung.jpg|thumb|Thousands of books smoulder in a huge bonfire as Germans give the Nazi salute during the wave of [[Nazi book burnings|book-burnings that spread throughout Nazi Germany]].]] {{Main|Nazi book burnings}} The [[Government of Nazi Germany|Nazi government]] decreed broad grounds for burning material "which acts subversively on [[Nazi Germany's]] future or strikes at the root of German thought, the German home and the driving forces of German people".<ref name="holocaust" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=1998 |title=The Burning of the Books |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-burning-of-the-books |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606224243/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-burning-of-the-books |archive-date=2022-06-06 |access-date=2015-12-19 |website=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |publisher=American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-burnings/ |title=Book Burnings in Germany, 1933 |website=PBS |access-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419090858/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-burnings/ |archive-date=April 19, 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Polastron|2007|pp=179–182}} === Allied occupation of Japan (1945–1952 CE)=== {{Further|Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers#Media censorship}} During the Allied [[occupation of Japan]], [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers|GHQ]] officials banned any kind of criticism of the Allies or "reactionary" political ideas and many books were confiscated and burned. Over 7,000 books were destroyed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nishio |first=Kanji |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/427545621 |title=GHQ funsho tosho kaifū |date=2008 |publisher=Tokuma Shoten |isbn=978-4-19-862516-0 |location=Tokyo |language=ja |oclc=427545621 |author-link=Kanji Nishio}}</ref>
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