When people think about where they burn books, their minds usually drift toward black-and-white newsreels of 1930s Berlin. It feels like a relic. A ghost of a more primitive time. But honestly, if you look at the data coming out of organizations like PEN America or the American Library Association, the physical destruction of literature isn't just a historical footnote. It’s happening right now. It just looks a bit different than it used to.
People have been lighting fires under paper for as long as we’ve had ideas worth fearing. From the Library of Alexandria’s murky demise to the Bonfire of the Vanities in 1497 Florence, the goal is always the same: total erasure. If the book is gone, the thought is gone. Or so the logic goes.
But where are the actual fires today?
The Places Where They Burn Books in the 21st Century
You might be surprised to find that the "where" isn't always a town square. Sometimes it’s a specialized incinerator in a government facility. Other times, it’s a backyard in a suburban neighborhood.
In 2019, for instance, a priest in Koszalin, Poland, made international headlines. He and his parishioners gathered items they believed were sacrilegious—including Harry Potter novels and a Hello Kitty umbrella—and tossed them onto a fire. They cited biblical verses as their justification. It wasn't a state-mandated purge, but it was a public ritual designed to send a message. That’s the thing about book burning; it’s rarely about the heat and almost always about the optics.
In June 2021, a school board in Ontario, Canada, engaged in what they called a "flame purification" ceremony. They burned thirty books for "educational purposes" as part of an effort to remove outdated or stereotypical depictions of Indigenous people. While the intent was rooted in reconciliation, the imagery of smoke rising from a pile of books sparked a massive backlash. It turns out that even when the "why" changes, the "how" still makes people incredibly uncomfortable.
State-Sponsored Destruction
If we're talking about systematic, government-led efforts regarding where they burn books, we have to look at conflict zones and authoritarian regimes. During the occupation of Mosul in 2015, ISIS militants ransacked the Mosul Central Library. They didn't just steal the artifacts. They burned over 100,000 rare manuscripts and documents. Some of those texts were centuries old. They were irreplaceable.
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It was a deliberate attempt to wipe out the cultural memory of the region.
Then there’s China. In 2019, a library in Zhenyuan County went viral—and not in a good way—after a photo surfaced of staff burning "illegal" and "religious" publications outside the building’s entrance. The local government later claimed it was an unauthorized action by the staff, but it underscored a growing trend of "cleaning" libraries to align with specific ideological standards.
Why the Fire Never Truly Dies
Totalitarians hate nuance. Books are full of it.
When you ask where they burn books, you are really asking where people are most afraid of a different perspective. It’s a desperate move. It’s an admission that an idea is so powerful that the only way to beat it is to unmake its physical form.
But here is the irony. Historically, burning a book is the fastest way to make everyone want to read it. It’s called the Streisand Effect, though it predates the internet by a few thousand years. When the Nazi party held their massive bonfires in 1933, authors like Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller didn't disappear. Their sales actually spiked in the United States and Britain.
The "Soft" Burning: Digital Erasure and Shredding
We need to be honest about how censorship has evolved. We don't always use matches anymore.
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- Pulping and Shredding: In many Western democracies, books aren't burned because of the environmental impact and the terrible PR. Instead, they are "pulped." Thousands of copies of a book might be ground down into gray mush because a publisher got cold feet after a social media controversy.
- Digital Delisting: This is the most modern version of where they burn books. It happens on servers. A digital storefront decides a book violates "community standards," and suddenly, it’s gone from every Kindle and tablet in a specific region. No smoke. No heat. Just a 404 error.
- The "Shadow" Ban: This happens in school libraries across the U.S. currently. A book isn't burned, but it is moved to a locked closet or a "restricted" shelf where no one can find it.
A library in Vinton, Iowa, basically had to shut down temporarily in 2022 because of intense pressure over the books on its shelves. The books weren't put to the torch, but the access to them was effectively incinerated by the resignation of staff and the freezing of resources.
The Cultural Cost of the Bonfire
When we lose a book to fire, we lose more than words. We lose the physical link to the person who wrote them.
Think about the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. When the Mongols sacked the city in 1258, it’s said the Tigris River ran black with the ink of countless scrolls. We still don't know exactly what was lost that day. There could have been mathematical breakthroughs or philosophical treatises that would have changed the course of the Renaissance.
The same thing happened in 1992 during the Siege of Sarajevo. The National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina was targeted by incendiary shells. Brave librarians formed a human chain to try and save the books while snipers shot at them. They saved some, but the vast majority of the collection—including rare Ottoman-era documents—turned to ash.
How to Track and Respond to Book Destructions
If you want to stay informed about where they burn books or where they are being removed from shelves, you have to look at specific trackers.
- PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans: This is the most comprehensive database for the U.S. right now. It tracks every instance of a book being removed from a library.
- The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom: They provide yearly reports on "challenged" books. A challenge is often the precursor to a removal or a destruction.
- The Index on Censorship: This is a global organization that looks at state-level censorship, including the destruction of printing presses and physical texts in places like Belarus or Myanmar.
Honestly, the best way to fight a book burning isn't to start a counter-fire. It’s to buy the book. It’s to donate a copy to a "Little Free Library." It’s to read the banned text out loud in a public space.
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Actionable Steps for the Concerned Reader
Censorship thrives in silence. If you are worried about the trend of book destruction, there are concrete things you can do that actually move the needle.
Support the "Banned Books" sections at your local independent bookstore. These displays aren't just marketing; they are a statement of defiance. By purchasing these titles, you ensure that the publishers have the financial incentive to keep printing them, even in the face of controversy.
Attend your local library board meetings. Most people don't go. Because of that, a small, vocal minority can often dictate what remains on the shelves. Your presence as a rational voice advocating for the freedom to read is often enough to balance the scales.
Utilize the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). They have launched initiatives like "The Banned Books Club," which uses GPS-based technology to give people in areas with high book bans free access to those titles via an app. It is a brilliant way to make the physical "where" of book burning irrelevant.
Document and share. If you see a book being removed or hear of a ritual destruction, don't just get angry on social media. Contact the ACLU or PEN America. They have legal teams that specialize in First Amendment protections and can provide resources to local communities under pressure.
The history of where they burn books teaches us one vital lesson: you can destroy the paper, but the ideas usually find a way to escape through the chimney with the smoke. They settle in the minds of the people watching. The fire just makes the words more visible. Keep reading, keep sharing, and keep your libraries open. The best defense against a bonfire is a well-read public.