Talk:Mein Kampf

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Contents

[edit] "Globalists vs Continentists"

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf#Globalists_vs_Continentists

The Continentists believe that Hitler for his own lifetime would have been content with ruling merely Europe.

- This is speculation.

I should have marked/deleted this part but instead I added the following paragraph:

Fact however is, that the Wehrmacht attempted to conquer Africa and Eurasia as well.

A deletion would be the better solution, but even my attempt on clarifying this speculation gets reverted by certain users like Hongooi: "Wehrmacht fighting in Africa is irrelevant -- they were helping out Mussolini, not part of a grand plan; Eurasia because that's part of the USSR)"

This is -NOT- irrelevant for this discussion. It does not matter what might have been their goal or reason in your opionion. What matters is that they were conquering Africa and Eurasia thus Hitler was NOT content with ruling merely Europe as the quoted paragraph claims.

[edit] Availability in US libraries

Perhaps a dumb question, but how available is Mein Kampf in an average US library? Feels like it should be a given part of any library selection but you never know... Slipzen 02:47, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

In this vein, I'd like to note that the article claims the book's publishing rights are owned by Bavaria in all languages save English and Dutch. It then goes on to explain why this is so for Dutch but not for English. I see that someone else commented on this in the talk page (below) and that others tried to answer his or her concerns, but still there is no mention of the English language copyright in the article (at least not in that section; I confess I didn't read the entire thing). Also, in the same section it lists the availability of the book in several countries around the world; missing from that list are the US and the UK (though it does mention that an Arabic edition is popular in Arabic parts of the UK). It seems like the book is freely available in both countries and maybe that's why they were left out, but still, the article makes mention of the fact that it's freely available in Canada and Australia; we shouldn't just assume that users will know it's available the US and UK. Am I missing something? Thanks for your time.

For what it's worth, there are 19 copies of Mein Kampf listed today among 12 branches of the Montgomery County, Maryland public library. 18 copies listed in the online catalog of the Detroit, Michigan public library. An English version is also available through Project Gutenberg. I'm sure exceptions exist in particular areas or particularly small libraries, but in general I'd assume you'd find it as easily as any other dense historical tome (e.g., The Wealth of Nations, Das Kapital). OtherDave (talk) 15:55, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Working title

As far as I Know the title is "Mein Kampf" but why is the book referred to as "Mein Kompf" throughout the text? A false spelling? I don't speak german. 83.92.58.114 20:19, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I read somewhere that Hitler's working title for the book was "My five year struggle against ignorance and stupidity" and it was the publisher who shortened it to "Mein Kampf". Is this true? If so, might be worth adding to the article (JMHO).

The original title, according to Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, was Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice and that it seems that the name was shortened to My Struggle on the suggestion of Max Amann - ChessPlayer 06:07, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
It seems a bit odd then that the article strongly suggests the name of the book should be interpreted as "My War." Max Amann, Hitler's Publisher, wanted to shorten the name not rename it.
Furthermore "Kampf" has never exclusively meant war. Selecting only examples where Kampf means war is an obvious fallacy. The same could easily be done today rendering the same false definition. During the same time period for example a "Kampf gegen Faulheit" - "Struggle against Sloth" was lead in the Prison system. Surely the prison authorities did not mean to outfit their residents with rifles and body armor?
More likely their aim was to make prisoners productive so upon leaving prison they would have gained work skills to escape their life of crime. Considering all of this the intepretation of "Mein Kampf" to mean "My war" seems at best unlikely. - Hvatum 06:07, 28 May 2004 (UTC)
I've edited the article to the best of my ability to reflect what I stated in the above post. A grammer and style proofing would be highly appreciated.
Also, off the top of my head I remembered Rudolf von Jhering's "Der Kampf ums Recht" as a relavent example contemporary to Hitler. If you know of a more appropriate contemporary book feel free to either replace this example or append the Paragraph.

6/3/06: removed the suggestion that "My War" would be a good translation of the title. There's a perfectly good word for "war" in German: Krieg. Hitler doesn't use it. - 24.52.167.159

Good thinking, I need to learn more german! Hvatum 17:29, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cranston controversy

This caused [Alan Cranston]?, later Senator from California, to sue Hitler in a case which he lost.

What does "This" refer to? What did Cranston allege, and when did the case take place? --AxelBold

Rewrote to include what happened. Cranston published his own version of Mein Kampf with anti-Nazi notes. Hitler sued him for copyright infringement and won.

I think we also need a summary of the contents of the book. --AxelBoldt

That might be beyond the scope of the project; the Table of Contents alone runs twenty pages! 128.163.113.201 19:38, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright and distribution

If I recall correctly, Mein Kampf is in the public domain in the US. All Nazi copyrights were voided in the war. --GABaker

Would it include the translations? From memory, the current American edition is based in an arrangement made before the war that Bavaria couldn't break. Though it could be on of the incomplete versions -- Error

Is it true that Hitler earned so much that he could renounce to an official salary from the State? -- Error

Not necessarily from sales of Mein Kampf, but I've heard that he collected royalties from the sale of German postage stamps bearing his image, making him very wealthy — sort of like William Wrigley Jr. selling chewing gum for a penny a piece — not much money in each sale, but the sales volume was huge. -- Quicksilver

The copyright on Mein Kampf has been disputed: see this web page. From this court decision it appears that the copyright was not left by Hitler to the state of Bavaria but was confiscated by Bavaria from Hitler's estate.

Agreee. Changed the part with the testament. Klaus Mann 13:08 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Popularity/availability

I remember reading somewhere that this book is the second bestselling book in the world, after the bible. Does anyone know if there is any truth in this? I hesitate to put it in, although if true, it would certainly be worth mentioning. 80.255 06:59, 27 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I think you are thinking of the Communist "Little Red Book". Maximus Rex 07:07, 27 Oct 2003 (UTC)
Unlilkely, since you can't buy the book in most countries. Klaus Mann 20:51, 27 Oct 2003 (UTC)
Actually, I'm pretty sure that you can buy the book in most countries. Almost every country that bans it, if not all, is in Europe. Since it was forced upon people in Deutschland during WWII, I assume that perhaps temporarily it may have held that title, but of course I doubt that it does now... The Little Red Book may indeed hold the title at the moment, considering China's population... Khranus
Its purchase is not banned in most places, just printing is. In most places you can import, as long as you are not an aknowledged neo-nazi--60.42.157.16 00:01, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
  • I do NOT think there is ANY truth in that "Mein Kampf" is the second bestselling book in the world, after the bible.
I don't even think it would be on a top-1000 list.
I'm not sure, but I think "Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter" is the second bestselling book in the world...
Luckily, they are not so offensive as "Mein Kampf". :)
There is an episode of the history channel's TV show "Secret Worlds" about American Nazism that made the claim that Mein Kampf was the second best selling book after the Bible. I think this is what many people are referring to when they say they heard this fact somewhere.Cbraz 04:58, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Regards, Dna-Dennis 00:56, 1 August 2005 (UTC)


I believe the second best-selling book in the world is The Diary of Anne Frank. I can't remember the source of that, though.--Ryan! 09:26, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

The Diary of Anne Frank is the second best-selling book in the world. I remember hearing it while I was watching a special on TV. I dont' have the source either and I forgot what the show was on television, but you're correct either way. RoseDincht 18:59, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Bizarre. I always heard that it was the Bible in the number one place, followed by Mao's Little Red Book and the Jehovah's Witnesses' The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life. I find it awfully difficult to believe that Anne Frank has outsold those two! 128.163.113.201 19:25, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Mein Kampf sold millions of copies during Hitler's lifetime; it was almost mandatory to have a copy if you lived in Germany, and it sold millions more in Allied nations during World War II. I once had a copy published in the U.S. in 1943. I would bet it is easily one of the top 1,000 selling books of all time, but is nowhere near No. 2. Having read it, I will say that it may be the worst best-selling book of all time. Even leaving the content aside, the quality of the writing is unbeliveably bad. Jsc1973 (talk) 09:10, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More antisemitic blather

  • "In 1999, the Simon Wiesenthal Center documented that major internet booksellers like amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com sell Mein Kampf to Germany. After a public outcry, both companies agreed to stop those sales." I'd be willing to bet money that had the rights to the book been in the hands of jewish interests, then the wiesenthal centre would have been promoting the book as a 'example of the horror of national socialism' as opposed to harassing booksellers to drop its sales. Jews afterall, almost exclusively follow the $$$ (anonymous edit)
    • Actually, if the rights to the book had been in the hands of jewish interests, the book would never be published ever again. We already have enough examples of the horrors of national socialism, thank you.

I do NOT think it is the second bestselling book in the world. However, it is often a bestseller in many Arab states. It has been a bestseller in PA controlled areas, Jordan, and was the number two best selling book in Turkey, recently.

Turkey isn't an Arab state. --86.135.217.213 02:12, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

I think what people are not saying but inferring is that "Mein Kampf" arabic translation is popular among arab muslims and muslims in general.

We should not be afraid of the truth. Neither should we hide facts. Otherwise we will be like those who re-write history to their own choosing. Simply stating facts cannot be construed as "hate" except by those who wish to hide the facts for their own political purposes. Origen 17:55, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Summary?

I agree that a summary could be useful, because of misconceptions about its contents. In particular, I removed the mention of Poland from the sentence related to Lebensraum: Although the territory of Poland was inevitably on the way of each and every "Drang nach Osten", "Mein Kampf" doesn't mention Poland in this particular context, while Russia fits well into Hitler's not so original theory of expansion of "active" nations into the "under-used" territories. (Also, Hitler "analyzes" pro and contra of alliance vs. war with Russia, as an example of his chaotic logic. On one hand, by his logic "Lebensraum" is supposed to be taken away from "weak", "lazy" nations that cannot "consume" it. On the other hand, Russia with its Marxism/communism is considered to be a strong threat, and the war on the East is a preventive one.)

mikkalai

[edit] Adolf Hitler. Mein Kampf copyright 1925

I found Volume 2, 1925, Hard cover, written in german, It still has the dust cover which has a picture of Hilter. is this book worth anything? contact me at doug@lewistonmichigan.com

I doubt it had a picture of John Cleese on the cover! Do you mean Adolf Hitler?-GeorgeFormby1

[edit] NPOV Problems

I changed some of the beginning statements that violated Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View policy. If any disagree with my changes, I urge them to first go read the policy carefully. I also left in some of the violations for now, such as the statement, Like many autobiographies, much of the material was distorted or fabricated by the author. This statement is the opinion of the Wikipedia editor, and that is not allowed in articles. It needs to be re-written in accordace to the guidelines on the NPOV page I linked to above. ChessPlayer 08:00, 16 May 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Who edits "excerpted versions"?

Most German libraries carry heavily commented and excerpted versions of Mein Kampf.

Could someone with specific knowledge of these versions elaborate on this sentence? I read the word "excerpted" here as a euphemism for "redacted" or other words of that sense. If the copyright is held by Bavaria, and Bavaria withholds it from publication, then who edits and publishes such editions? Under Berne Convention copyright I would expect such editions would be derivative works of the Bavarian copyright and thus would be illegal to publish without the consent of the copyright holder. --FOo 02:55, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Dutch government

Hello there is a phrase in this article "the Dutch government seized that [copyright] in the same way". Some text seems missing here. What else exactly was seized. And how about England, also mentioned in the phrase?

By the way, being Dutch myself, I belief that owning the book in Holland is illegal. I would actually think it is in several other European countries as well, such as France.

Looking at the changelist, the clause about the Dutch government was made by IP 62.251.90.73 at 12:40, on Jul 9, 2004.
I suspect the sentence is attempting to refer to this: [1]. Apparently the government of the Netherlands has taken the position that it owns the copyright to Mein Kampf in the Netherlands, and as the copyright owner, has prohibited anyone else from publishing it there.
This could be better expressed in the article. Also, as you suggest, many similar things may exist in other European countries, and these probably deserve mention. --Saforrest 22:21, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)
Indeed the possession of the book is in itself not prohibited.

[edit] Er...

"Mein Kampf was an influential text among the Arab Ba’ath Party activists. An Arabic edition of Mein Kampf has been published by Bisan publishers in Lebanon. It ranks on the best-seller list among Palestinian Arabs"

I'm suprised this hasn't been discussed already. Whilst I wouldn't know either way about the first part, the final sentence strikes me as a hateful lie. Check the Article history.. pomegranate 13:43, Jan 10, 2005 (UTC)

"It ranks on the best-seller list among Palestinian Arabs". In order to be a "lie" it must be untrue. Otherwise it is merely an embarrassing truth. Origen 17:56, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Current Availability

The statement that both Barnes and Noble and amazon.com no longer sell the book is false.

Check both websites and you will see that both still sell the book quite openly.

Holden 27

But will they ship the book to a German or Dutch address?--Ryan! 09:29, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikisource?

There's a link to wikisource, but there's nothing there. What's the use of that?--Aslate 19:48, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

I agree and have removed it. Thanks for checking. -Willmcw 22:18, July 18, 2005 (UTC)


There is a section here claiming that the book is the 6th best seller in Palestine, but the source for this information is MEMRI who are completely biased. If somebody cannot find a neutral source to substantiate this claim, I would like to remove the text from the article. I hope people understand, as Wikipedia should be a reliable source where possible, not a conduit for propaganda. Israel/Palestine is a contentious subject and it should not impinge on this subject matter. manchester_me 00:33 (GMT), 30 Dec 2007

[edit] www.nationmaster.com

Why is this article extracted out of nationmaster.com's encyclopedia or visceversa, and no mention is made in either? --60.42.157.16 00:08, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

NationMaster's encyclopedia is a clone or mirror of Wikipedia. 24.39.223.90 09:01, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV Main Discussion

On 31 July 2005 11:52, this article was given a NPOV-logo by "84.67.32.255" with this motivation "Major NPOV needed here! This is supposed to be a balanced neutral account. NOT a Hitler bashing exercise, full of with emotive POVs, loaded language, and gross pro-communist/Jewish bias."

Since I believe arguments will arise in the future, I decided to start a discussion on the matter. I have removed the NPOV-logo, of the following reasons:

  • There were no examples of the exact sentences which were considered POV.
  • I don't believe the person has read "Mein Kampf". I have, and I do not think the article is POV.
  • One should be extra careful when calling "referencing" articles POV
  • The sources should be checked (in this case "Mein Kampf")

Because of my defence you may think I have written the original article. I have not. But since I have read "Mein Kampf", I can assure you that the book is full of exactly what this article was accused of, namely "emotive POVs, loaded language, and gross anti-communist/Jewish bias."

Regards, Dna-Dennis 13:51, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Mein Kampf ist in Deutschland verboten!

Wer zum Teufel hat die Webside mit dem deutschen Text auf die Wikipedia gestellt? Dieser Krampf ist in Deutschland verboten...

translates roughly as: "who the hell has put the website with the german text into wikipedia; this book is forbidden in Germany..." Lectonar

Thats not correct. "Mein Kampf" isn't forbidden in germany despite the common believe... 194.127.8.18 09:19, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I have seen a TV - documentary which clearly said that the book "Mein Kampf", the symbol "Swastika", and the "Hitlersalute" were all forbidden in Germany. In the german version of the computer game of "Indiana Jones and the last Crusade" the Nazi flags have a black square instead of the Swastika, and a text appears, basicly saying that that symbol is forbidden by law. The Neonazi groups in Germany salute with raising their right arm and spreading three fingers apart (the thumb , the pointer and the middle one) and lowering the other two fingers and they explain that it it stands for the first letter "W" in the german word "Widerstand" - Resistance. It is simple censorship in the name of decency.
What do I think? : "Freedom of Speech not only means that we have the freedom to say what we like to hear. It also means that other people have the liberty to say things we despise and hate." Flamarande 10:53, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
  • Well, if you can provide a reliable source saying the book is forbidden in Germany, please provide it; one would think the German Wikipedia article about it would strive to be correct, but who knows? (And, as always, our personal opinions about the propriety of such bans is irrelevant.) --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 14:12, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
    • It's a bit more subtle than that. It always is. The article already says that copyright of the text is with the State of Bavaria, who refuses to licence it. The German Criminal Code has a provision against "symbols of anticonstitutional organizations" (§ 86a) - that does cover the Hitler salute - and another against "anticonstitutional propaganda" (§ 86). Usage for scholarship is excluded. One would guess that that would cover the "Kampf". Dr Zak 14:28, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
      • It doesn't. I've updated the page to reflect this. --Mellum 19:01, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Repetitiveness

A big block of text concerning the sequel to Mein Kampf is present both in its own section of the article, and also further up, buried in the 'Contents' section. I would suggest that one of these sections be removed, or refer the reader to the other. --84.68.83.35 17:45, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

  • Very good you spotted this! It disrupts the flow and I will try to fix it right now. Regards, Dna-Dennis 23:21, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
  • I've fixed it now, by keeping the general info in "Contents" with a simple link to the subsection "The Sequel". Regards, Dna-Dennis 23:39, 21 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Who holds copyright?

Was it ever determined who holds copyright to this book? Amazon.com still offers it for sale, under the publisher "Mariner Books" (ISBN: 0395925037). Who makes money when someone purchases this book? Is it possible to find an original version that isn't so heavily edited or includes the first and sequel in a single volume?

[edit] Just a comment :-)

The intentionalist vs functionalist debate is quite blatantly one sided and most of it belongs in the article intentionalists vs functionalists and not here. Even if it were to be moved to the appropriate article it still comes off as very biased and not nuetral as it should be, not giving a proper intentionalist reply.

Off topic, but in reply, Mein Kampf being a best selling book?? this is highly unlikey as it is only influential among a small minority whereas the Bible's influence is global, selling in its millions in every continent annually. the same could be said of the Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter which again though sell well do not appeal to the global community i.e. Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe. A religous text such as Qu'ran or mass produced as The Little Red Book and Guiness World Record are probly closer to the mark.

I doubt that the Bible sells well in Antartica! (Prehaps the Penguins are secretly Neo-Nazi's!)-GeorgeFormby1

[edit] What is "folkish state"

In his book The rise and fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer admitted that he did not fully understand one Hitler's concept that he translated as "folkish state", having the word Volk in the German term. Can somebody explain what is "folkish state", its etymology, its true or hidden meanings, etc. ?

It is difficult to translate or even explain. The Nazis used the Word "Volk" (people) very frequently, also when promoting certain things that should be made available to the whole German people, as in "Volkswagen" or "Volksempfänger" (a cheap radio that couldn't receive foreign stations.) These things were all the same for everybody, and their was no alternative. You could have a Volksempfänger or no radio at all. In a similar way, also a "Volksstaat" was conceived. The people and movements promoting this kind of living were often called "völkisch". They were racist, dividing people into races and believed in the superiority of the Germanic race. They were anti-semitic, believing in works by Houston Chamberlain and Gobineau. The original folkish movement stemmed from middle-class people, often Protestants. They also propagated a heterogene society, without Jews, Slavonic, South-European people, of course, all working according to their state and being obedient. Hitler began such a concept with the Hitler youths. Concerning religion, the folkish movement was uneven. Some preferred Protestantism, because it was not a slave religion like Roman Catholicism (in their eyes), some propagated a neo-pagan religion worshipping the cruel gods like Thor and Odin. Hitler, who was brought up as a Catholic, wrote that Protestantism fitted the Aryan nature better. -- I hope this helps a little. --Prorokini 21:32, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] supplemental info for article

In Mein Kampf, Hitler also explained his version of the swastika. "In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work....." The victory he is referring to is of course the so-called victory of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and its self-proclaimed socialism. (in Mein Kampf). It's clear from this that the red in the German National Socialist flag stands for socialism ("the social idea of the movement") appropriated from the traditional socialist Red Flag. The white stands for German Nationalism and the swastika for "victories" of that dogma. There is also a clear indication that the cross piece is an "S," signifying "sieg", the German letter for "S." All of the above is even more evident when read in the actual German. There is the clear import that Hitler was using the symbol as overlapping "S" letters that signify "socialism" since Hitler has already said that the red stands for socialism and the swastika also stands for the "socialist victory" of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Adolf Hitler’s symbol (the swastika), although it was an ancient symbol, was used sometimes by the National Socialist German Workers Party to represent overlapping “S” letters for their “socialism,” as shown in medals, banners, flags, stamps, etc by the historian Dr. Rex Curry. The same symbolism is shown in Hitler’s own bizarre signature, which Hitler altered to use the same stylized "S" letter for "socialist," and in Hitler turning the symbol 45 degrees to the horizontal and eventually pointing all uses to the right to highlight the S letter, and similar alphabetic symbolism still shows on Volkswagens.

[edit] Poison Gas

It's obvious that Adolf mentions the poison gas because it's what he had been thru in WWI (remember he was blinded by it). It's a way to mark the WWI because the veterans reading the book would identify, don't forget poison gas was used A LOT in WWI. Underlining the sentences and even putting it in the article it's MANIPULATION of Adolf's words just to keep the connection to holocaust as if he had planned using zyklon-b for years and years before the concentration camps (IF it was actually used to anything else than killing lices). Remove the paragraph because it's nonsense and manipulative to anyone who doesn't know history and reads the article.


Hitler had sarin, etc gas - never used a drop of it against the Allies.159.105.80.141 19:24, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mein Kampf arabic translation

Certainly something needs to be said of the arabic translation and sales of Mein Kampf. This subject might warrant it's own heading.

It is a best-seller in many arabic speaking countries and the Palestinian Authority published an edition that was distributed to it's soldiers.

Does anyone have any information regarding actual sales numbers and distributions in arabic countries?

"More antisemitic blather" and "Er..." above have both referred briefly to this topic. Origen 17:57, 2 May 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Alan Cranston's Translation

This page states that Cranston's translation was abridged, but Cranston's article claims it was unabridged. Which was it?

  • It was abridged, I'm pretty sure. Here is Cranston discussing it; he'd read the original 350,000 word edition. One reference I've seen said Cranston's version was 70,000 words, but I've not found an authoritative source (the 70,000 number comes from a columnist I dislike.)

So I talked to an editor friend of mine in New York, a Hearst editor named Amster Spiro, and suggested that I write and we publish an anti-Nazi version of Mein Kampf that would be the real book and would awaken Americans to the peril Hitler posed for us and the rest of the world. So we did that. I spent eight days [compiling] my version of Mein Kampf from the English language version that I now had, the original German language version, and another copy that had just appeared. A book was then selling for around three dollars normal price. Hitler was getting forty cents royalty for each copy that somebody bought that wasn't [even] the real thing. We proceeded to print in tabloid the version that I wrote, with a very lurid red cover showing Hitler carving up the world, and we sold it for ten cents on newsstands. It created quite a stir. Some Nazis went around knocking down newsstands that displayed it in St. Louis and the German part of New York and elsewhere in the country. We sold half a million copies in ten days and were immediately sued by Hitler's agents on the grounds we had violated his copyright, which we had done. We had the theory that [though] he had copyrighted Mein Kampf in Austria, he had destroyed Austria with his army, so we said he destroyed his copyright at the same time. Well, that didn't stand up in court, and a Connecticut judge ruled in Hitler's favor. No damages were assessed, but we had to stop selling the book. We got what was called an injunction. But we did wake up a lot of Americans to the Nazi threat...

--jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 01:44, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 81 years

As mentioned on the Main Page, it has been 81 years since he published it. Is that mentioned anywhere?--Chili14(C|@|T) 03:55, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Irrelevant paragraph

I'm moving this here:

Functionalist historians have pointed out that there is no evidence linking Hitler to the decision to use poison gas to commit mass murder. The use of poison gas for mass murder began in 1939 for the T-4 Euthanasia Program when the program’s directors were looking for a more efficient way of killing large numbers of people rather than merely injecting each victim with a needle. Though documentation proves that Hitler ordered the T-4 Euthanasia Program in January 1939, there is no evidence that Hitler gave any orders for the use of poison gas. The mass murder of Jews began in the summer of 1941 with massacres committed by the Einsatzgruppen in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union. Until December 1941, the Einsatzgruppen always shot their victims. Ultimately, Heinrich Himmler decided in August 1941 that mass shooting was too inefficient, and so imported the experts from the T-4 Euthanasia Program to devise methods of gassing Jews, first with gas trucks, and later with gas chambers. There is no evidence that Hitler gave any orders for the SS to switch from mass shooting to mass gassing. Furthermore, all of the perpetrators who were brought to trial after the war such as Rudolf Hoess and Adolf Eichmann always stated the decision to use poison gas was something that the SS decided upon themselves as they felt it was more efficient than mass shooting. In view of these facts, Functionalist historians argue there is no connection between what Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf and the decision to use poison gas for mass murder starting in December 1941 with the gas trucks at the Chełmno death camp. In regard to the Chełmno death camp, the British historian Sir Ian Kershaw, in his article “`Improvised genocide'?: The emergence of the `Final Solution’ in the Warthegau”, published in the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society in 1992, has noted that the decision to use gas trucks was done in a highly ad hoc and makeshift manner, which does not support the Intentionalist view that the use of the poison gas was a part of a master plan going all the way to 1924.

I don't see any relevance to Mein Kampf, speaking as a total non-expert, reading this article for the first time. Stevage 09:47, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] English copyright

Who owns the copyright to the English translation? In the article it says they're all owned by Bavaria except the English and Dutch, but unless I missed it, it doesn't say who owns the English. - Рэдхот 18:47, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

It probably doesn't have copyright? Aran|heru|nar 12:13, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
If this is true (of which there is no evidence) it should be stated outright. I am also interested in this issue. john k 15:36, 13 October 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure, but I think not all (there might be some) translations are eligible for copyright independant of the original (because they are absolute derivatives, are contain no content that wasn't entirely based on the original language - i.e. anyone could have done it with sufficient skills, and come up with results that would have been counted as the same in copyright terms) - Рэдхот(t • c • e) 22:02, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hitler in English

The discussion here with regard to Hitler's writings in English would appear to refer to American editions only. A full unabridged English-language translation of Mein Kampf was available in the United Kingdom (I have one in my own library) from the early 1930s up until 1944, when publication ceased. The next full edition, that annotated by D. E. R. Watt, appeared, from memory, in 1969. Also his unpublished book on foreign policy was available in the UK-in the 1960s-under the title 'Hitler's Secret Book.'

As far as the 'warning to history' school of thought is concerned it might be of interest to note that there was some attempt to make up for past negligence during the Cold War. Some of Nikita Kruschev's speeches and sayings were lumped together and published in the US with the rather absurd title 'Kruschev's Mein Kampf.' White Guard 01:45, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name Change

My history teacher was talking about how Hitler had his last name changed from something else to Hitler. I was wondering if this was true, and if so, from what?

--> His father, Alois, changed his name from Schicklegruber to Hitler. As such, Adolf was born a Hitler.

[edit] Stars & Stripes

I recall a bit of a flap in the late 1980s when some German newspaper found that Mein Kampf was available in the US Army's Stars & Stripes bookstores in Germany. --Gadget850 ( Ed) 11:51, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like it would be worth mentioning. In defense I would say that it is very important for military people to study history. Borock (talk) 16:49, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] German Source at Radio Islam (abbc2)

abbc2.com, also known as Radio Islam, is a site with anti-semitism contents. 141.35.188.239 16:35, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Removed links to abbs2.com and radioislam.org sites. --Schwalker 22:57, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


The articles says that Hitler had the Jews at the bottom of society - inferior. I believe he wanted them out of society not at the bottom or top. He seemed to believe their presence made progress in Germany - for the general welfare of Germans - impossible. He would classify them as troublemakers, unpatriotic, etc not as inferior.159.105.80.141 19:28, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] French version

I changed the link because I think it can drive a bad image of Islam. The link I joined is a school work from teenagers thinking about violence. Barraki 16:22, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bisan version

With regard to this source, I don't think we can combine "The Telegraph found it on sale in three newsagents on Edgware Road, central London, an area with a large Arab population" with "Copies of the translation are understood to have been distributed to London shops towards the end of last year and have been selling well." to say that copies have sold well in Arab areas of London - so we need to either delete the line, or settle on the selling well bit, or the finding it in Arab areas bit. --Coroebus 16:45, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hitler Mentions Antisemitic Excesses of Middle Ages

Early in MK, Hitler mention the anti-Jewish riots/pogroms of medieval Europe and indicates that he felt (at one point, at least) such things were regrettable. I think this is a remarkable statement from someone who would within a couple of decades cause the Holocaust.Jrm2007 11:43, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Availability in India

The article states that the book is unavailable in India, which to my knowledge is not true. See for example http://www.indialog.co.in/publications/meinkampf.asp. I have updated the text accordingly. I remember being surprised to see stacks of the book (30+ copies) in very small booksellers in Kerala in 2001. Does anyone know where we can get sales data? SociableLiberal 15:02, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] German-Austrian

The opening sentence says that Hitler was German-Austrian. Shouldn't that be Austrian-German since he was born in Austria and then moved to Germany? Borock (talk) 16:51, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

I reworded the sentence in a minor way which made that more clear. Borock (talk) 14:06, 22 March 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Popularity

Though by no means popular, people were said to have contacted Eher asking for a larger run. Kind of contradicts itself, no?--Jack forbes (talk) 21:27, 22 March 2008 (UTC)