Destruction of Printed Matter
Soviet government implemented mass destruction of pre-revolutionary and foreign books and journals from libraries. Only "special collections" (spetskhran), accessible by special permit from the KGB, contained old and politically incorrect material.
Soviet books and journals were also removed from libraries according to changes of Soviet history. Often Soviet citizens preferred to destroy politically incorrect publications and photos, because those connected to it were frequently persecuted.
After the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria all subscribers of the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia obtained a page to replace the one with Lavrentiy Beria article, instead containing Vitus Bering articles.
Read more about this topic: Censorship In The Soviet Union
Famous quotes containing the words destruction of, destruction, printed and/or matter:
“Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“I ... must continue to strive for more knowledge and more power, though the new knowledge always contradicts the old and the new power is the destruction of the fools who misuse it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“She passes the houses which humbly crowd outside,
The gasworks and at last the heavy page
Of death, printed by gravestones in the cemetery.”
—Stephen Spender (1909–1995)
“Value is the most invincible and impalpable of ghosts, and comes and goes unthought of while the visible and dense matter remains as it was.”
—W. Stanley Jevons (1835–1882)