Nazi book burning, 1933. The pile of books, numbering between 12,000 and 20,000, were trans histories, trans patients' medical records, rare medical and anthropological documents, artistic works both about and by trans people, and charts concerning intersexuality prepared for the International Medical Congress.

Notices where this attachment appears

1. 𝐿𝒶𝓃𝒶 :verifiedtrans: (ladydragonfly@universeodon.com)'s status on Thursday, 15-Jun-2023 00:07:40 JST 𝐿𝒶𝓃𝒶 :verifiedtrans:

   On May 6, 1933, Nazi stormtroopers (Sturmabteilung) broke into this library, looted the building, killed at least one of the occupants, and hauled the majority of its books outside for a public book burning in the streets of the Opernplatz. Joseph Goebbels gave a speech to 40,000 people about "protecting our nation's children".

   The photo has become an icon of Nazi German brutality and fascism. It is shown in school textbooks worldwide above the caption "Nazi book burnings, 1933". It is often published in news stories and social media whenever the subject of banning books arises.

   What is not often mentioned in those stories is the SUBJECT of the burned books. The building was the Institute for the Science of Sexuality. The first of its kind, dedicated to studying trans people and trans identities, and performing gender confirming surgery for a number of patients. And the books that were burned were trans histories and trans patient records.

   Remember, they came for trans people first.