First they burn the books. Then they kill people. History has shown us this repeatedly.
As wisely and eloquently stated by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his 1839 play, Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy, the pen is mightier than the sword, this adage holds that the written word is a powerful tool in the transmission of ideas. Why else would oppressive regimes and other ruthless upholders of the status quo engage in censorship and book burning throughout the ages?
For example, Pope Gregory IX in 1239, in his quest to maintain the Catholic Churchs economic and ideological stranglehold, ordered all copies of the Jewish holy book, the Talmud confiscated, and one of his successors, Pope John XXI, commanded that the Talmud be burned on the eve of the Jewish Passover in 1322.
The Christian reformer, Martin Luther, in his 1526 treatise On the Jews and Their Lies, argued:
First, their synagogues should be set on fire. Jewish prayer books should be destroyed, and rabbis forbidden to preach. The homes of Jews should likewise be smashed and destroyed and their residents put under one roof or in a stable like gypsies, to teach them they are not master in our land
.These poisonous envenomed worms should be drafted into forced labor. The young and strong Jews and Jewesses should be given the flail, the ax, the hoe, the spade, the distaff, and the spindle and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses.
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