File:Lascar Bebelplatz, the place where the Nazies burnt over 20,000 books (4471494795).jpg

English: The Bebelplatz (formerly Opernplatz) is a public square in Berlin. The square is on the south side of the Unter den Linden, a major east-west thoroughfare in the centre of the city. It is bounded to the east by the State Opera building (hence its prewar name), to the west by buildings of Humboldt University, and to the south by St. Hedwig's Cathedral, Berlin's oldest Roman Catholic church. The square is named after August Bebel, a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the 19th century. The Bebelplatz is best known as the site of the book burning ceremony held on May 10, 1933 by members of the S.A. ("brownshirts") and Nazi youth groups, on the instigation of the Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels. The Nazis burned around 20,000 books, including works by Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and many other authors. The buildings surrounding the square were largely destroyed during World War II and later restored. Today a glass plate set into the Bebelplatz, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates the book burning. Furthermore, a line of Heinrich Heine is engraved, stating "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen" (in English: "Where they burn books, they will also burn humans in the end"). Students at Humboldt University hold a book sale in the square every year to mark the anniversary [Wikipedia.org]