Bebelplatz is one of Berlin‘s largest and more famous squares. It is located near Unter den Linden. Until 1910 it was called Platz am Opernhaus (square at the Opera House) and between 1910 and 1947 Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Platz. Although invisible in the picture, there is quite an interesting monument in this square.
Monuments at Babelplatz
One of the main buildings near Bebelplatz is Humboldt University. The square is also surrounded by the Berlin Opera House (Staatsoper Unter den Linden) and St. Hedwig’s Cathedral. However, when I first saw this place, I was most impressed by the monument, which is not visible at first sight.
If you walk through “Bebel Square” on foot and look under your feet, at some point you will notice a “window”. Through it you will notice an empty room without doors with white empty shelves for books. This Memorial “The empty library” commemorates the burning of books by the Nazis on 10 May 1933 in many university towns in Germany. The inscription at the monument quotes Heinrich Heine: “That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people.”
