The Nazis Burned These Books (1943): OWI poster

The Nazis burned these books (1943), OWI poster no. 66

OWI Poster No. 66 (1943) shows a book fire under "The Nazis burned these books" and says free Americans can still read them. NAID 513828, Record Group 44.

Techniques named on the archive record

Fear appealGlittering generalities

Date

1943

Made by

Office of War Information

Medium

Poster

Country

United States

Regime

Roosevelt Administration

NARA

NAID 513828; Record Group 44

Source

Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are

Source

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters , retrieved October 4, 2026

Source

Public domain (U.S. government work) Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-376 (NAID 513828).

Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.

The Nazis burned these books is a 1943 Office of War Information poster, number 66. It shows a photograph of a book fire and says free Americans can still read them (NAID 513828).

What the sheet prints

Office of War Information Poster No. 66 is dated 1943 by the Government Printing Office line. The headline says the burning was ten years earlier. The record does not print a day and month for that earlier fire. The catalog describes a night photograph of a crowd, many with raised arms, and uniformed men beside a fire of books.

Ten years ago:

THE NAZIS BURNED

THESE BOOKS

... but free Americans

CAN STILL READ THEM

OWI Poster No. 66. Additional copies may be obtained upon request from the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943-O-528869

Transcription in the FRAME record. Full record at propagandaarchive.org. NAID 513828, Record Group 44, 44-PA-376.

Issuer and rights

The maker is the Office of War Information. The rights line calls it a public-domain U.S. government work and cites the National Archives, Record Group 44, 44-PA-376, NAID 513828, retrieved by the archive on 4 October 2026. A related OWI sheet, Books are weapons in the war of ideas (NAID 513575), is in the same gallery. The topic page is anti-Nazi propaganda.

Sources

FRAME object record, "Ten years ago: The Nazis burned these books... but free Americans can still read them," 1943. Office of War Information Poster No. 66. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-376, NAID 513828, retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).