The initiator of the memorial, Wolfgang H. Deuling, suggested an art competition. Artists were to be encouraged to submit designs via a brochure. A 16-member jury formed the selection committee that prepared the decision for the culture committee.

Members of this committee included the then head of the cultural department, the director of the art museum, the head of the city archives, the director of the memorial for the Bonn victims of National Socialism, the initiator and the cultural policy spokespersons of the council parliamentary groups.

Ten artists responded to the invitation to take part in the competition. Wolfram Kastner, the artist team Andreas Knitz and Dr. Horst Hoheisel, Wolfgang Nestler and Alois Schüller ultimately submitted designs to the jury. The selection committee unanimously decided on the joint design by the artists Andreas Knitz and Dr. Horst Hoheisel.

Their memorial consists of "reading signs" scattered across Bonn's market square. These bronze books embedded in the pavement contain the titles and names of the authors of the books burned by the National Socialists on May 10, 1933. The "reading signs", which were initially scattered randomly around the square, are concentrated at the spot in front of the steps of the Old Town Hall where the books were burned.

In addition, a weatherproof book chest is embedded in the square. It contains a collection of books by authors whose works were burned here. The inscription on the chest names the event and other authors of burned books.

To commemorate the book burning on 10 May 1933, the Bonn Memorial and Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, in cooperation with the City of Bonn and other partners, organizes an annual commemorative event on Bonn's market square. The book chest is opened and quotes are read from the books of the persecuted authors. The books are then given away, the chest is filled with other works and closed until the following year. The memorial thus becomes a reading memorial.

After the National Socialists seized power on January 30, 1933, Jewish, pacifist, social democratic and communist writers, among others, were subjected to increased persecution. The first major campaign against them began in April 1933 in a nationwide four-week "Action against the un-German spirit" organized by the "Main Office for Press and Propaganda of the German Student Body".

To kick off the campaign, the "12 Theses Against the Un-German Spirit" were published on April 12, 1933. The German Student Union provided accompanying articles for newspapers and magazines and organized lectures in public and on the radio to "educate" people about the aims of the campaign and defame the authors concerned. On April 26, 1933, the collection of "subversive literature" began, and on May 9, the "fire slogans" were sent out as the basis for a uniform design of the book burnings throughout the Reich.

The "Main Office of the German Student Body" distributed so-called "black lists" with authors' names and works. All students were asked to "clean out" their private libraries and those of acquaintances; university and institute libraries, public libraries and bookshops were to be searched. The Bonn student body also took part in the campaign.

In total, more than 50 book burnings are documented throughout Germany in the spring of 1933. On the evening of May 10, 1933 alone, book burnings took place at 22 university locations, including in front of Bonn City Hall. It is no longer possible to trace which books were burned in Bonn. The list of ostracized authors whose books were burned is long and includes around 450 names. Over time, the list of banned books was expanded to include local writers and academic journalists. Almost all of the authors of contemporary German literature went into exile, while others were later deported to concentration camps or banned from publishing.