on 10 may 1933, the students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of "un-german" books in the square at the state opera, berlin, thereby presaging an era of uncompromising state censorship. in many other university towns, nationalist students marched in torch lit parades against the "un-german" spirit. the scripted rituals of this night called for high nazi officials, professors, rectors, and student leaders to address the participants and spectators. at the meeting places, students threw the pillaged, banned books into the bonfires with a great joyous ceremony that included live music, singing, "fire oaths," and incantations. in berlin, some 40,000 people heard joseph goebbels deliver a fiery address: "no to decadence and moral corruption!" goebbels enjoined the crowd. "yes to decency and morality in family and state! i consign to the flames the writings of heinrich mann, ernst glaeser, erich kästner."