The letter can be seen in a typed draft by Keller from May 9, 1933.
It contains handwritten additions from Keller’s aid Polly Thompson.
On that day, university students participated in burnings across Germany.
Nazi students picking through the collected materials of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, director of the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin on May 6, 1933 in preparation for a book burning. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Keller for her part was aware of this attack’s anti-Semitic focus.
Do not imagine that your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here, she wrote in her open letter.
While incredibly dangerous, such responses cannot kill ideas which have already permeated the ether of society.
Helen Keller in 1920. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons,CC BY 4.0)
History, as always, must prove a lessoneven as book banning parties would venture to rewrite it.
Helen Keller in 1920.
Helen Keller’s own draft of the 1933 letter she wrote to Nazi students.
Helen Keller’s own draft of the 1933 letter she wrote to Nazi students. (Photo:Internet Archive)
Do not imagine that your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here.
God sleepeth not, and He will visit His judgment upon you.
The Empty Library at the Bebelplatz in Berlin, designed by Micha Ullman.
The Empty Library at the Bebelplatz in Berlin, designed by Micha Ullman. The sculpture is a memorial to the book burnings of Nazi rule. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
The sculpture is a memorial to the book burnings of Nazi rule.
