Verboten und Verbrannt: Zensurfälle in der Buchgeschichte

In the organizer's words:

Themed tour of the permanent exhibition "Signs - Books - Networks: From Cuneiform to Binary Code" at the German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library in Leipzig.

With the invention of printing, a variety of forms of control and regulation of literature developed. Both state and ecclesiastical institutions repeatedly tried to exert influence in the interests of maintaining power in order to prevent the reception of unwelcome writings.

This not only affected authors and readers, but also libraries and book production. By law, print shops could be closed, publishers fined heavily, booksellers sentenced to death and books burned. For centuries, lists of banned books were kept, the most famous of which is the Catholic Church's Index, which fills shelves with evidence. State and religious institutions continue to intervene in the communication process to this day. The battle for freedom of expression and freedom of the press continues to the present day and thus beyond the printed word in the universal medium of the Internet.