History of Sorts

One of the most effective weapons to fight antisemitism and racism is Critical Thinking. What scares me is that there seem to be fewer and fewer people who have this ability. Or maybe it is just a case that those who think critically are silenced.

This blog is about a historical event. However, I can’t ignore facts—it has similarities to what is slowly creeping in today’s society. Often, people confuse Critical Thinking with criticism of news reports, studies, etc.—that is not a correct assessment. In Critical Thinking, you cannot accept everything at face value— you must be able to analyze the data to ask questions where needed.

One of the key ingredients for Critical Thinking is knowing history. Presently, there is a trend in education in several countries to remove the study of history from the curriculum. However, if you forget history—you forfeit your future.

In April 1933, the German Student Association called for German university students to destroy all “un-German” literature. Fundamentally, the GSA wanted to sanitize history to suit their traditions and philosophies. According to the GSA, everything that was not in line with Germanic values, especially anything Jewish, was deemed tainted and had to be purged.

They published the Zwölf Thesen Wider den Undeutschen Geist (Twelve Theses Against the Un-German Spirit). The document was published in several German media. Below is an English translation of the text.

Twelve Theses Against the Un-German Spirit
1. Language and literature have their roots in the people. It is the responsibility of the German people to ensure that its language and literature are the pure and unadulterated expression of its Folk traditions.

2. Presently, there is a chasm between literature and German tradition. This situation is a disgrace.

3. Purity of language and literature is your responsibility! Your people have entrusted you with the duty of faithfully preserving your language.

4. Our most dangerous enemy is the Jew and those who are his slaves.

5. A Jew can only think Jewish. If he writes in German, he is lying. The German who writes in German but thinks un-German—is a traitor! In addition, the student who speaks and writes un-German is thoughtless and has abandoned his duties.

6. We want to eradicate lies, we want to denounce treason, we want institutions of discipline and political education for us, the students, not mindlessness.

7. We want to regard the Jew as alien and respect the traditions of the German folk. Therefore, we demand of the censor:
• Jewish writings are to be published in Hebrew.
• If they appear in German, they must be identified as translations.
• The strongest of actions against the abuse of the German script.
• German script is only available to Germans.
• The un-German spirit is to be eradicated from public libraries.

8. We demand that German students have the desire and capability for independent knowledge and decisions.

9. We demand that German students have the desire and capability to maintain the purity of the German language.

10. We demand German students have the desire and capability to overcome Jewish intellectualism and the resulting liberal decay in the German spirit.

11. We demand student and professor selections be based on their reliability and commitment to the German spirit.

12. We demand that German universities be a stronghold of the German Folk tradition and a battleground reflecting the power of the German mind.

—The German Student Association

Although the theses did not expressly call for book burning, they triggered the book burnings across Germany and Austria in May 1933. This was only a few months after the Nazi party had taken power.

Sources

USHMM

Library Arizona

https://gordoncstewart.com/tag/twelve-theses/

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/book-burning

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Theses#:~:text=The%20Twelve%20Theses%20were%20issued,their%20%22pure%22%20volkische%20traditions.