Details

Object type

sculpture

Title

The Burning of the Books

Artist/Maker

Myer Lacome maker

Culture/School

British

Date

1999

Materials

mixed media

Dimensions

overall: 478 mm x 932 mm x 67 mm

Description

In April 1933 the Nazis launched a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses to intimidate and repress Jews in Germany. In May of the same year they conducted public burnings of books by great Jewish and non Jewish writers considered opponents of Nazis ideology. This sculpture is one of three memory box artworks evoking these events made by Myer Lacome in the 1990s.

The sculpture is inscribed 'When one burns books, one will, in the end, burn people, Heinrich Heine.’ Heine (1797-1856) a German poet of Jewish origin also said of this work ‘In civilised societies knowledge held in books has been of the highest value. In the small confined spaces of this piece Jews, known as the People of the Book, their centuries old traditions and contributions to civilisation are being burnt and destroyed by the Nazis.’

ID Number

S.433

Location

Kelvingrove Conflict and Consequence