Post: #1

“This book is too dangerous for the general public,” library historian Florian Sepp warned as he carefully laid a first edition of “Mein Kampf” — Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto of hate — on a table in a restricted reading room.

Nevertheless, the book that once served as a kind of Nazi bible, banned from domestic reprints since the end of World War II, will soon be returning to German bookstores from the Alps to the Baltic Sea.

The prohibition on reissue for years was upheld by the state of Bavaria, which owns the German copyright and legally blocked attempts to duplicate it. But those rights expire in December, and the first new print run here since Hitler’s death is due out early next year. The new edition is a heavily annotated volume in its original German that is stirring an impassioned debate over history, anti-Semitism and the latent power of the written word.

The book’s reissue, to the chagrin of critics, is effectively being financed by German taxpayers, who fund the historical society that is producing and publishing the new edition. Rather than a how-to guidebook for the aspiring fascist, the new reprint, the group said this month, will instead be a vital academic tool, a 2,000-page volume packed with more criticisms and analysis than the original text.

Still, opponents are aghast, in part because the book is coming out at a time of rising anti-Semitism in Europe and as the English and other foreign-language versions of “Mein Kampf” — unhindered by the German copyrights — are in the midst of a global renaissance.

Regardless of the academic context provided by the new volume, critics say the new German edition will ultimately allow Hitler’s voice to rise from beyond the grave.

Full article is here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/euro...story.html

Post: #2

Weird I remember seeing this book in my High School lying around in some random classroom, I picked it up and looked at it, some passage about Jews being no good. It seemed kinda rambling to me and I put it down.

I guess it's a crime to possess this book in Germany?

Well we saw what effect it had the first time around...

Post: #3

I've found it ironic that Germany suppresses the ideas of a culture famous for suppressing ideas. I totally get it, but it still strikes me as odd. Younger Germans are very much in favor of free speech and tend toward egalitarianism but when this book comes up they'll go silent.

This passage from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer was chilling the first time I read it. Actually, it it still is.

On the evening of May 10, 1933, some four and a half months after Hitler became Chancellor, there occurred in Berlin a scene which had not been witnessed in the Western world since the late Middle Ages. At about midnight a torchlight parade of thousands of students ended at a square on Unter den Linden opposite the University of Berlin. Torches were put to a huge pile of books that had been gathered there, and as the flames enveloped them more books were thrown on the fire until some twenty thousand had been consumed. Similar scenes took place in several other cities. The book burning had begun.

Post: #4

(03-29-2015 09:48 PM)blacknwhitespade Wrote:  “This book is too dangerous for the general public,” library historian Florian Sepp warned as he carefully laid a first edition of “Mein Kampf” — Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto of hate — on a table in a restricted reading room.

This "library historian" - presumably speaking for Germany's elite classes - doesn't have a lot of faith in the general public, does he? Paternalistic bullshit.

Incidentally, Germany is one of only a small handful of countries (others include Iran and North Korea) where parents cannot homeschool their children. The "general public" just aren't up to it, I suppose. This law was first enacted by the Nazis and never repealed.

Post: #5

Hitler should of called it Bang Europe. Because he essentially came and fucked Europe.

Post: #6

Lol these guys know that you can probably find the text online in about 30 seconds right?

Also if books should be banned because of 'dangerous ideas', they should put Marx's work, with its subsequent 100M deaths, in the same category.

I'm all for absolutely unlimited freedom of speech.

Post: #7

It's not banned.

You may have it, you may even sell it (if it's a real print from that time).

You're just not allowed to re-print it because the copyright is owned by the state of Bavaria (who just doesn't print any new copies, which I personally don't find all that awful). According to German law all texts lose their copyright 70 years after the author's death. That means in 2015 anybody is free to reproduce it - hence the discussion.

The only reason the book "hits the shelves for the first time" is because somebody wants to make money off the 70-year rule. Legally taking an already existing, well-known text and selling it.

Ta-da. Free speech.

Post: #8

Does anyone care anymore?

Probably not.

Books should never be banned, though, in my opinion. No matter how subversive (or not) they may be.

Post: #9

(03-31-2015 05:33 AM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  Does anyone care anymore?

Probably not.

Books should never be banned, though, in my opinion. No matter how subversive (or not) they may be.

They definitely do.

Without pop-culture Hitler, British and US foreign policy as compiled by the Council for Foreign Relations would lose its raison d'être. There'd be no more wars to unleash onto the world so that the 'lessons of Munich won't be repeated' and there'd be no more bombs to drop on civilians to stop 'the next Hitler'.

Post: #10

It's a great read, albeit very long. I was surprised at how little it mentions race and jews. It's an excellent "how-to" guide on taking over a country down on its luck.

Post: #11

(03-31-2015 11:32 AM)N°6 Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 05:33 AM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  Does anyone care anymore?

Probably not.

Books should never be banned, though, in my opinion. No matter how subversive (or not) they may be.

They definitely do.

Without pop-culture Hitler, British and US foreign policy as compiled by the Council for Foreign Relations would lose its raison d'être. There'd be no more wars to unleash onto the world so that the 'lessons of Munich won't be repeated' and there'd be no more bombs to drop on civilians to stop 'the next Hitler'.

You're right; I didn't phrase what I meant correctly.

By not caring, I meant does anyone really think that reading MK will turn a generation of people into Nazi masterminds or result in increased adulation of Hitler? I was referring to the publishing of the book not its historical context.

The whole rise of the 3rd is one of the most fascinating historical subjects out there.