Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” (“My Struggle”) became available in German bookstores for the first time in 70 years on Friday.
Hitler’s 800-page anti-Semitic book was never banned in Germany, but reprinting it was forbidden. Public access to the work was restricted, usually only being made available for academic purposes, with library copies “hidden” from public view. However, copies are freely available in second-hand bookstores and online.
When American troops occupied Munich after World War II, Franz Eher, the publishing house that put out Nazi propaganda, was shut down and the copyright passed to the state of Bavaria, which prevented its reissue. However, the copyright on “Mein Kampf” has expired, allowing its republication.
The first volume was first written in 1924, when Hitler was imprisoned in Landsberg after attempting a coup in Bavaria in November 1923. It was published in 1925. The second volume was published in 1926. It would go on to sell 12.5 million copies.
The book is being republished by the Institute of Contemporary History Munich-Berlin (IfZ), which has been working on the project since 2012 and describes its new version as a “critical” edition with about 3,500 annotations and running to almost 2,000 pages, up from the original 800. Just 4,000 copies are being printed.
The IfZ claims it wants to demystify the book, saying: “This critical edition of ‘Mein Kampf’ should be understood as a contribution to the historical and political enlightenment. The aim is to deconstruct Hitler and his propaganda in a sustainable manner.”
Copies of the new critical edition of Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ are displayed prior to the book launch at the Institut für Zeitgeschichte (Institute for Contemporary History) on January 8, 2016 in Munich, Germany. Photo by Getty.
Bavaria was to have contributed some financing to the project, but in 2013 it withdrew a €500,000 offer on the orders of Horst Seehofer, the state’s premier and head of the Christian Social Union, the sister party of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.
“I cannot put a request for a NPD [the extreme-right National Democratic Party] ban in Karlsruhe, and then give official approval for the diffusion of ‘Mein Kampf’ — that’s bad,” Seehofer said at the time.
A spokesman for the Bavarian Ministry of Culture said the reason for Seehofer’s U-turn was a visit to Israel in 2012, where he talked to Holocaust survivors and families of victims.
It remains to be seen how much publicity will be given to Hitler’s book. According to a dpa survey, German book chain Thalia said it is not planning to promote the book and will order it only “if a customer explicitly wants a copy.” Online retail giant Amazon said it will donate all proceeds from sales of the book to charity.
Controversially, there is talk that “Mein Kampf” could be taught in German schools.
The German minister for education and research, Johanna Wanka, a member of the CDU, and the German Teachers’ Association have backed the use of the new, annotated edition in German schools.
German Education Minister Johanna Wanka said that Hitler’s statements will not go “uncontradicted,” adding that “students have questions, and it is right that they can get rid of these in the classroom and talk about the issue.” Photo by Getty.
“The critical edition … has precisely the aim of contributing to political education,” the minister told Passauer Neue Presse.
“A professional treatment of passages in the classroom can be an important contribution to the immunization of adolescents against political extremism,” the president of the German Teachers’ Association, Josef Kraus, told Deutsche Welle.
Asked if the book might lead to increased support for far-right movements such as Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West), Kraus said that “much more dangerous is remaining silent or completely banning the book. It’s more important to me that something like this can be discussed in a differentiated and critical manner.”
Not everyone agrees. Charlotte Knobloch, chair of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, said: “The book is a Pandora’s box, which should be closed forever in the ‘poison cupboard’ of history.”