With the Treaty of Versailles forcing post-WWI Germany into a state of deep poverty and rampant wounded pride, German citizens looked for a way to reclaim their former glory and regain their livelihoods. Various groups sought to achieve this, with many of Germany’s youth forming organizations under the Nazi flag to push nationalist ideas. In 1933, the German Student Union banded together with the National Socialist German Students' League to plan out multiple raids on libraries and various books that were classified as against German ideals. Mass book burnings were held throughout May of 1933, with the minister of Nazi propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, speaking out against the “un-German spirit” during the Berlin mass burning on May 10th, wherein an estimated 25,000 books were burned. This ignited a barrier into existence against Western, Semitic, Intellectual, and other ideals not in line with the Nazi party. Despite global outrage, more Nazi policies were put into place with the support of the restless German citizens, and Hitler’s rise to power came to a climax with the advent of World War II. The barrier continued to be upheld throughout the war and beyond, with reparations and liberations only starting the process of smothering the barrier.