Media Essay
Ernest Hemingway - Photograph
On May 10, 1933, Nazi students at universities across Germany pillaged and burned books they claimed were “un-German.”
Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms—a fictional love story that realistically depicts the horrors of war—was among the works destroyed. The novel’s message contradicted that of the Nazis, who glorified war.
Portrait of Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway in his World War I Red Cross Ambulance Corps uniform, ca. 1918.
Item ViewErnest Hemingway
Portrait of Ernest Hemingway by Helen Pierce Breaker. Paris, France, ca. 1928.
In 1933, Nazi students at more than 30 German universities pillaged libraries in search of books they considered to be "un-German." Among the literary and political writings they threw into the flames were the works of Ernest Hemingway.
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Cover of A Farewell to Arms
Cover of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. (1929 cover. Princeton University Library.)
In 1933, Nazi students at more than 30 German universities pillaged libraries in search of books they considered to be "un-German." Among the literary and political writings they threw into the flames during the book burning were the works of Ernest Hemingway.
Item ViewHemingway on a safari
American novelist Ernest Hemingway on safari, ca. 1933.
In 1933, Nazi students at more than 30 German universities pillaged libraries in search of books they considered to be "un-German." Among the literary and political writings they threw into the flames were the works of Ernest Hemingway.
Item ViewErnest Hemingway
Author Ernest Hemingway aboard the boat Pilar, ca. 1950.
In 1933, Nazi students at more than 30 German universities pillaged libraries in search of books they considered to be "un-German." Among the literary and political writings they threw into the flames were the works of Ernest Hemingway.
Item ViewAmerican novelist Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway, among the greatest American novelists, was a member of the "Lost Generation" of expatriate writers who were disillusioned by war. In 1933 the Nazis burned Hemingway's novels as part of the public book burning in Berlin. United States, ca. 1950.
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