Editing Book burning (section)

===20th century===
In [[Azerbaijan]], when a modified Latin alphabet was adopted, books which were published in the Arabic script were burned, especially those published in the late 1920s and 1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jafarzade |first=Aziza |date=2006 |title=14.1 - Memoirs of 1937 - Burning Our Books - The Arabic Script Goes Up in Flames |url=https://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai141_folder/141_articles/141_aziza_jafarzade.html |url-status=live |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=Azerbaijan International |location=United States |at=vol. 14:1 pp. 24-25 |archive-date=2 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102144750/http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai141_folder/141_articles/141_aziza_jafarzade.html}}</ref> The texts were not limited to the Quran; medical and historical manuscripts were also destroyed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rustamov |first=Asaf |date=1999 |title=7.3 The Day They Burnt Our Books |url=http://azeri.org/Azeri/az_english/73_folder/73_articles/73_justforkids.html |url-status=live |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=Azerbaijan International |location=United States |at=vol 7:3 pp. 74-75 |archive-date=28 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928201715/http://azeri.org/Azeri/az_english/73_folder/73_articles/73_justforkids.html}}</ref>
[[File:Yad Vashem Books burned by Nazis by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|Copies of books which were burned by the Nazis, on display at [[Yad Vashem]]]]
Book burnings were regularly organised in [[Nazi Germany]] in the 1930s by [[Sturmabteilung|stormtroopers]] so that "degenerate" works could be destroyed, especially works written by Jewish authors such as [[Thomas Mann]], [[Marcel Proust]], and [[Karl Marx]]. One of the most infamous book burnings in the 20th century occurred in Frankfurt, Germany, on May 10, 1933.<ref name="holocaust" /> Organized by [[Joseph Goebbels]], books were burned in a celebratory fashion, complete with bands, marchers, and songs. Seeking to "cleanse" German culture of the "un-German" spirit, Goebbels compelled students (who were egged on by their professors) to perform the book burning. To some this could be easily dismissed as the childish actions of the youth, but to many in Europe and America, it was a horrific display of power and disrespect.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Baker |first=Kenneth |date=2016-09-09 |title=Burning Books |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/burning-books |access-date=2022-06-07 |magazine=[[History Today]] |volume=66 |issue=9 |page=44 |archive-date=14 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914143329/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/burning-books |url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Denazification#Censorship|denazification]] which followed the war, literature which had been confiscated by the Allies was reduced to pulp rather than burned.

In 1937, during [[Vargas Era#Third Brazilian Republic (Estado Novo)|Getúlio Vargas' dictatorship]] in [[Brazil]], several books by authors such as [[Jorge Amado]] and [[José Lins do Rego]] were burned in an anti-communist act.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Ramos |first=Jorge |date=2012-08-12 |title=Ditadura Vargas incinerou em praça pública 1.640 livros de Jorge Amado |url=https://www.correio24horas.com.br/noticia/nid/ditadura-vargas-incinerou-em-praca-publica-1640-livros-de-jorge-amado/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203012217/https://www.correio24horas.com.br/noticia/nid/ditadura-vargas-incinerou-em-praca-publica-1640-livros-de-jorge-amado/ |archive-date=2019-12-03 |access-date=2021-05-24 |website=Jornal Correio |language=pt-br}}</ref>

In the [[People's Republic of China]] from the 1940s to present day, library officials publicize the burning of "illegal publications, religious publications".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-china-library-officials-burn-books-that-diverge-from-communist-party-ideology/2019/12/09/5563ee46-1a43-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html|title=China's library officials are burning books that diverge from Communist Party ideology|last=Shih|first=Gerry|date=9 December 2019|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=10 December 2019|archive-date=9 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209220928/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-china-library-officials-burn-books-that-diverge-from-communist-party-ideology/2019/12/09/5563ee46-1a43-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1942, local Catholic priests forced Irish storyteller Timothy Buckley to burn a book ''[[The Tailor and Ansty]]'' by [[Eric Cross (writer)|Eric Cross]] about Buckley and his wife, because of its sexual frankness.<ref name="times2006">{{cite news|last=Keating|first=Sara|title=Bringing tales of the tailor back home|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2006/0127/1137626807241.html|access-date=19 December 2010|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=1 January 2006|archive-date=22 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022185623/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2006/0127/1137626807241.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1950s, over six tons of books by [[William Reich|Wilhelm Reich]] were burned in the U.S. in compliance with judicial orders.<ref name="IDP">{{Cite news |last=Sharaf |date=1956-07-13 |title=BOOK ORDER APPEALED; Liberties Unit Asks U.S. Not to Destroy Reich's Writings |pages=419, 460–461 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/07/13/archives/book-order-appealed-liberties-unit-asks-us-not-to-destroy-reichs.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722185249/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/07/13/archives/book-order-appealed-liberties-unit-asks-us-not-to-destroy-reichs.html |archive-date=2018-07-22}}</ref> In 1954, the works of [[Mordecai Kaplan]] were burned by [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] [[rabbi]]s in America, after Kaplan was [[Herem (censure)|excommunicated]].<ref name="silver">{{Cite web |last=Silver |first=Zachary |date=2005-06-03 |title=A Look Back at a Different Book Burning |url=https://forward.com/culture/3610/a-look-back-at-a-different-book-burning/ |url-status=live |access-date=2022-06-07 |website=The Forward |language=en |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817124740/https://forward.com/culture/3610/a-look-back-at-a-different-book-burning/}}</ref>

In [[Denmark]], a [[comic book]] burning took place on 23 June 1955. It was a [[bonfire]] which consisted of comic books topped by a life-size cardboard cutout of [[The Phantom]].<ref>{{cite web |date=1940-04-09 |title=Fantomet på bålet 1955 |url=http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/materiale/fantomet-paa-baalet-1955/ |url-status=live |access-date=2017-12-15 |website=danmarkshistorien.dk |publisher=[[Aarhus University]] |language=da |archive-date=26 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026232901/http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/materiale/fantomet-paa-baalet-1955/}}</ref>

During the [[military dictatorship in Brazil]] from (1964-1985), several methods of censure were used, among them, torture and the burning of books by firemen.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Greenhalgh |first=Raphael Diego |date=2020-09-29 |title=Os livros e a censura em Brasília durante a Ditadura Militar (1964-1985) |trans-title=Books and Censorship in Brasília during the Military Dictatorship (1964-1985) |url=https://brapci.inf.br/index.php/res/download/148044 |url-status=live |format=PDF |journal=Informação & Sociedade: Estudos |language=pt-br |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.22478/ufpb.1809-4783.2020v30n3.52231 |access-date=2021-05-24 |doi-access=free |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524150713/https://brapci.inf.br/index.php/res/download/148044 |archivedate=2021-05-24}}</ref>

Some supporters have celebrated book-burning cases in art and other media. Such is the case in Italy in 1973 with ''The Burning of Heretical Books'' over a side door on the façade of [[Santa Maria Maggiore]], Rome, the bas-relief by [[Giovanni Battista Maini]], which depicts the burning of "heretical" books as a triumph of righteousness.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Touring club italiano |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/863551761 |title=Roma e dintorni |date=1977 |publisher=Touring Club italiano |location=Milano |pages=344 |language=Italian |oclc=863551761 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607002020/https://www.worldcat.org/title/roma-e-dintorni/oclc/863551761 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the years of the Chilean military dictatorship under [[Augusto Pinochet]] from 1973 to 1990, [[book burnings in Chile|hundreds of books were burned]] as a way of repression and censorship of left-wing literature.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bosmajian |first=Haig |title=Burning Books |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2006 |isbn=9780786422081 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |page=141 |oclc=62697065}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Daniel |date=2010-09-10 |title=The books have been burning |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/the-books-have-been-burning-1.887172 |url-status=live |access-date=2017-12-15 |website=CBC News |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607185511/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/the-books-have-been-burning-1.887172}}</ref> In some instances, even books on [[Cubism]] were burned because soldiers thought it had to do with the [[Cuban Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edwards |first=Jorge |date=1984-04-01 |title=Books in Chile |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/03064228408533696 |journal=Index on Censorship |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=20–22 |doi=10.1080/03064228408533696 |s2cid=144952930 |issn=0306-4220 |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607002004/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/03064228408533696 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrain |first=Charles F. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/811384331 |title=Political change in the Third World |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-85889-5 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |page=186 |language=en |oclc=811384331}}</ref>
[[File:Chile quema libros 1973.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Book burnings in Chile|Book burning in Chile]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)|Pinochet dictatorship]]]]

In 1981, the [[Jaffna Public Library]] in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, was [[Burning of Jaffna Public Library|burned down]] by Sinhalese police and paramilitaries during a pogrom against the minority Tamil population. At the time of its burning, it contained almost 100,000 Tamil books and rare documents.<ref name="smithsonian" />{{sfn|Knuth|2006|pp=80–85}}{{sfn|Ovenden |2020|pp=163–164}}

Kjell Ludvik Kvavik, a senior Norwegian official, had a penchant for removing maps and other pages from rare books and he was noticed in January 1983 by a young college student. The student, Barbro Andenaes, reported the actions of the senior official to the superintendent of the reading room and then reported them to the head librarian of the university library in Oslo. Hesitant to make the accusation against Kvavik public because it would greatly harm his career, even if it was proven to be false, the media did not divulge his name until his house was searched by police. The authorities seized 470 maps and prints as well as 112 books that Kvavik had illegally obtained. While this may not have been the large-scale, violent demonstration which usually occurs during [[war]]s, Kvavik's disregard for libraries and books shows that the destruction of books on any scale can affect an entire country. Here, a senior official in the Norwegian government was disgraced and the University Library was only refunded for a small portion of the costs which it had incurred from the loss and destruction of rare materials and the security changes that had to be made as a result of it. In this case, the lure of personal profit and the desire to enhance one's own collection were the causes of the defacement of rare books and maps. While the main goal was not destruction for destruction's sake, the resulting damage to the ephemera still carries weight within the library community.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=Lawrence S. |year=1985 |title=Biblioclasm in Norway |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J114v06n04_02 |url-status=live |journal=Library & Archival Security |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=13–16 |doi=10.1300/j114v06n04_02 |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 June 2022 |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009151758/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J114v06n04_02}}</ref>

In 1984, during India’s attack at Sikh Golden Temple, Indian forces ransacked the [[Sikh Reference Library]] which held invaluable manuscripts and records in relation to Sikh and wider history. Much of the material was confiscated and remaining newspaper archives etc. were burned by the Army later claiming falsely that the fire broke out due to crossfire between Sikh militants and government forces. The whereabouts of large volume of works which vanished during the attack are unknown.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Samachar |first=Asia |date=2021-06-09 |title=Memoricide - Burning down Sikh Reference Library |url=https://asiasamachar.com/2021/06/09/38651/ |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=Asia Samachar |language=en-GB}}</ref>

In 1984, Amsterdam's South African Institute was infiltrated by an organized group which was bent on drawing attention to the inequality of [[apartheid]]. Well-organized and assuring patrons of the library that no harm would come to them, group members systematically smashed microfiche machines and threw books into the nearby waterway. Indiscriminate with regard to the content which was being destroyed, shelf after shelf was cleared of its contents until the group left. Staff members fished books from the water in hopes of salvaging the rare editions of [[Travel literature|travel books]], documents about the Boer Wars, and contemporary materials which were both for and against apartheid. Many of these materials were destroyed by oil, ink, and paint that the anti-apartheid demonstrators had flung around the library. The world was outraged by the loss of knowledge that these demonstrators had caused, and instead of supporting their cause and drawing people's attention to the issue of apartheid, the international community denounced their actions at Amsterdam's South African Institute. Some of the demonstrators came forward and sought to justify their actions by accusing the institute of being pro-apartheid and claiming that nothing was being done to change the [[status quo]] in [[South Africa]].{{sfn|Knuth|2006|pp=43–70}}