Humboldt

You may have wondered why there are so many thing named Humboldt, and especially if you are one of the College of the Redwoods or Humboldt State students. Or maybe you never thought about it. I certainly didn't until I learned about this man.

Alexander von Humboldt is seen in front of Humboldt University in what was once East Berlin and is now adjacent to the center of political and business power in Germany. What amazed me about this man is that he should be much more famous than he is even though there are so many things around the world named for him. If you want to know more I recommend the book "The Invention of Nature"

Humboldt University was founded in 1809 and has 32,000 students. Karl Marks, Friedrich Engels, Bismarck, and Heinrich Heine were students and Albert Einstein taught there until he along with all the other Jewish professors were dismissed.

The Law School with Babel (book) Platz in front. On May 10, 1933 20,000 books were burned here. Works by "degenerates" and "enemies" of the state went up in flames.

In the center of the plaza is a commemoration of the book burning by the artist Micha Ullman. It is accompanied by a plaque with a quote by Heine (from the 19th century) that says "This was but a prelude; where they burn books, they ultimately burn people"

Across the avenue is a neoclassical building called Neue Wache, a war memorial built in 1818 and appropriated as a war memorial for those lost in World War I. It was severely damaged in bombing during WWII.

Kathe Kollwitz, "To the Victims of Tyranny and War" sits alone inside the Neue Wache.