Bebelplatz is an absolutely iconic site in not only the history of Germany, but also in the history of the world. It is the public square in Berlin where one of the infamous Nazi book burning ceremonies were held. Books were hauled into the streets, tens of thousands of them from the library, to be burnt.

Today, a memorial to this devastation is remembered by a glass plate set into the cobblestone, peering into empty bookcases large enough to hold the 20,000 books that were set ablaze at Bebelplatz, with a plague that states “That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people”. Bebelplatz is a harrowing reminder of the horrors of Nazi Germany, and an ode to the freedom of knowledge - one of the many things fought for during that dark time in history.