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:
“There are risks which are not acceptable: the destruction of humanity is one of them.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“All my humor is based upon destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I’d be standing on the breadline right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.”
—Lenny Bruce (1925–1966)
“He is no mystic, either, more than Newton or Arkwright or Davy, and tolerates none. Not one obscure line, or half line, did he ever write. His meaning lies plain as the daylight.... It has the distinctness of picture to his mind, and he tells us only what he sees printed in largest English type upon the face of things.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“But what does an eternity of damnation matter to one who has found for one second the infinity of pleasure?”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)