Durch Licht zur Nacht (tr. Through Light to Night) was one of the first photomontages produced for the left-wing newspaper, the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung (AIZ) by the graphic artist John Heartfield after fleeing to exile in Prague. Heartfield had escaped from the Gestapo and SA in March 1933. Just a short time later, he commented in Prague on the political events in Germany with his biting photomontages. In April 1933, as the Nazis were preparing the book burning of May 10, Heartfield was already working on his response. Simultaneously to the burning of the books on Opernplatz in Berlin, the AIZ appeared on May 10 with Heartfield’s photomontage over the front page. A mountain of books could be seen towering in front of the Reichstag, flames rising high. Amongst others, works by Thomas Mann, Lenin, Karl Marx, Egon Erwin Kisch and Erich Maria Remarque can be made out. With a raised finger, the Reich Minister of Propoganda Joseph Goebbels stands in front of the pyre. Underneath is the caption “Also sprach Dr. Goebbels: Laßt uns aufs neue Brände entfachen, auf daß die Verblendeten nicht erwachen!”(ed. trans. “Thus spoke Dr Goebbels: Let us start new fires lest the blinded awaken!”). With this image, Heartfield leaves no doubt as to his opinion of the event: the Nazi government had staged the book burning in order, in Heartfield’s view, to keep enlightened writings from the people.