Burning Books: A Long History of Suppressing Dissent

Thursday - 13 June 2019

Thu - 13 Jun 2019

A A

Even books have faced difficult and harsh times, as despite their value, there have been attempts in the past to burn them for ethical, political, or religious reasons, causing irreparable losses.

Book burning has a long history as a tool used in attempts to suppress dissenting views that are seen as a threat. Here, we trace some book-burning events throughout history.

First: Ancient Times BC

2240: The destruction of the city of Ebla caused a massive burning of books in its libraries.

612: The destruction of the Assyrian capital by the Babylonians led to the burning of the Library of Ashurbanipal.

330: Alexander the Great's soldiers burned the Library of Persepolis, destroying many Zoroastrian writings and Persian royal archives.

Second: Ancient Times AD

272: The Library of Alexandria was burned as a result of the invasion and destruction of the city.

302: Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of all Manichaean writings and sacred books.

364: Roman Emperor Jovian ordered the burning of the entire Library of Antioch.

587: The first Catholic king of Spain ordered the collection and burning of all Arian books.

Third: Middle Ages

1193: The burning of Nalanda Library, which was the most famous repository of Buddhist and Hindu knowledge in the world at that time, occurred during Islamic conquests.

1153: Buddhist books and manuscripts were burned in the Maldives during Islamic conquests and expansion.

1256: The library of Alamut Castle was burned by the Mongols under Hulagu, containing numerous sources on Ismaili thought.

1258: The House of Wisdom was burned and destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Baghdad, along with all other libraries in Baghdad.

Fourth: Modern Times

1490: A number of Arabic books were burned in Andalusia at the request of the Spanish Inquisition, including more than 5,000 Arabic manuscripts and textbooks, in the main square of Granada.

1509: A number of Arabic books were burned in Oran by Spanish occupiers; occupation forces set fire to the city's books on orders from Cardinal Francisco de Cisneros.

1562: Mayan manuscripts and books were burned during the Spanish conquest, about 5,000 images, and a large number of manuscripts were damaged.

1567: A number of Arabic books were burned in Spain, as King Philip II ordered their owners to destroy their own books.

1584-1585: Tamil language books were burned during the expansion of the Portuguese Empire, as Catholics were hostile to Islam and destroyed much of the Tamil cultural heritage.

1711-1799: Chinese Emperor Qianlong burned more than 3,000 books, and the number of individual copies confiscated and destroyed is estimated in the tens of thousands.

1814: The original Library of Congress collection was burned by British and Canadian forces, destroying about 3,000 volumes in the initial collection.

1869: Books of ancient Cypriots were burned by Ottoman authorities, and 460 copies were destroyed.

Fifth: During World War I and the Interwar Period

In the period: 1914 - 1939

The Library of the University of Leuven was burned by the German army, destroying more than 300,000 books, causing shock and dismay worldwide.

Books in Serbian were burned by the Bulgarian army in a campaign of cultural genocide.

The Irish National Archives were burned during the civil war in 1922, destroying nearly a thousand irreplaceable archival copies.

The Nazis burned works by Jewish authors and other works considered 'un-German' at the library of the Institute for Sexual Science in Vienna.

Sixth: During World War II in the period: 1939 - 1945

The Library of the University of Leuven was burned again by German occupation forces, with more than 900,000 books burned.

Chinese libraries were burned by Japanese forces, including libraries at National University in Beijing, where about 350,000 books were lost, and at Nankai University Library, where about 224,000 books were destroyed.

A collection of British Museum books was destroyed twice by German bombing: once in 1940, destroying more than 124 volumes, and again in 1941, burning more than 150,000 books.

Books in synagogues were burned in 1943 in Italy; the burning of Jewish books served as a prelude to the mass arrest and deportation of Jews themselves.

Libraries in Warsaw, Poland, were destroyed by the Nazis, burning over 16 million volumes from about 14 libraries, in an effort to erase Polish national history.

German bombers, under orders from Nazi Germany, specifically targeted the National Library of Serbia in Belgrade in 1941, destroying about 1,300 ancient Cyrillic manuscripts and 300,000 books.

The bombing of German cities by Allied bombs destroyed a number of German libraries, damaging more than 550 doctoral theses, more than 750,000 patents, and over 2 million books and volumes.

Seventh: The Cold War period to the 21st century, from 1947 to the present

The University of Algiers Library was set on fire in 1962, destroying about 500,000 books, considered part of a final desperate effort to prevent Algerian independence.

British and American libraries that sold Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses were burned, as part of angry protests and riots around the world by followers of political Islam.

More than 2.8 million books were burned in Croatia by Croatian nationalists, mostly books by Serbian or Yugoslav authors.

The National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo had its entire contents destroyed, which included more than 1.5 million books, 4,000 rare books, 700 manuscripts, and 100 copies of Bosnian newspapers and magazines.

Georgian army forces burned the Abkhazian Research Institute of History, Language, and Literature and the National Library in Abkhazia, which housed an important library and archive.

Taliban fighters burned the Nasir Khusraw Foundation in Kabul, which contained a wide collection of books in Arabic, English, Pashto, and Persian.

The Egyptian Ministry of Culture ordered the burning of about 6,000 books by the poet Abu Nuwas, despite his writings being considered classics of Arabic literature.

The National Library of Iraq and the Islamic Library in central Baghdad were burned in 2003 following the invasion of Iraq, by looters.

Protesters against the military government in Egypt burned the Cairo Library, destroying thousands of rare books, magazines, and writings.

Islamist rebels in Timbuktu burned two libraries containing thousands of manuscripts dating back to 1202.

The National Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina were burned during the unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014.

A number of libraries and cultural properties were destroyed by ISIS, including the Mosul Public Library.

The Quran was burned during 2010-2011 by some Islamophobes in the United States.