“The law is against us. They say Buffalo Bill but mean the truth.” With these words, Bertolt Brecht criticised the Law to Protect Youth from Trashy and Dirty Writings, which was passed in 1926. By 1933, lists of banned works were appearing with publications that had come in for criticism over previous decades. The term “trash literature” refers to inferior literature of the trivial and kitsch sort, and “dirt” denotes morally reprehensible literature with a clearly sexual orientation. Under the pretext of protecting the youth, however, public librarians in particular were also soon banning politically unfavourable literature from the shelves.

Today, the Federal Review Board for Publications Harmful to Young Persons can index a book, play or work in another medium upon application by a public authority, for instance the youth welfare office. This work may then no longer be marketed. Some books, for example those that glorify the Nazi regime, are still banned today in order to protect adolescents and young people from radical right-wing influences. As such, since 1991, audio media and internet offers with radical right-wing or pornographic contents have increasingly been the focus of controls. However, violent films and computer games may also land on the Index.