|
The
rationale behind public book-burning, the suppression of free speech
and ideas, swiftly evolved into a general tactic that was cast into
an administrative framework. Joseph Goebbels’s Ministry of
Propaganda undertook the supervision of all aspects of cultural and
intellectual life. In December of that year, more than 1,000 titles
and the complete works of several authors were banned. By the end of
the next year, more than 4,000 publications were so treated.
Goebbels set up a dense network of 41 propaganda officers across the
Reich. After the Nazis completed their takeover of radio broadcasts
in the spring of 1933, the Nazis turned against the press. Orders
and restrictions were placed on publishing houses, limiting freedom
of the press to a small domain that the press could find between the
lines. Intermittent acts of book-burning continued across Germany
throughout the year. |
