Who were the initiators for the book burnings in Germany, and what was their motivation/purpose?

It was the college students and teachers that led the movement of the book burning. The German Student Union with the support and encouragement of their professors organized the first book burnings in 1933.

Lists were made of books that were considered to be subversive to the political correctness of Nazism. Books by Jews, liberals, socialists, evangelical Christians, were targeted. The first books to be burned were by Karl Marx and Albert Einstein. American author Hemingway was targeted as being too pacifistic.

Burning books was a method of enforcing politically correct thought in the 1933. It can be argued that there is a danger of the present climate of political correctness on today's college climate becoming similar to the actions of college students in Nazi Germany.

The book burnings in Germany during the Nazi regime were initiated by the German Student Union (Deutsche Studentenschaft) and supported by the Nazi Party. The main motivation behind the book burnings was to suppress ideas and knowledge that contradicted Nazi ideology, particularly those deemed "un-German" or "Jewish" by the regime. The Nazis aimed to control public opinion, eradicate opposition, and promote their own propaganda and worldview. By burning books written by Jewish authors, political dissidents, and others considered "undesirable," the Nazis sought to enforce conformity and indoctrinate the population with their ideology. The book burnings symbolized the censorship, intolerance, and cultural oppression that characterized the Nazi regime's approach to controlling information and shaping public discourse.