Russia Outlaws Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' as Neo-Nazis Rise

AOL:

(March 26) -- Russian prosecutors have banned Adolf Hitler's 1925 book "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle) over fears that the extremist tract is fueling far-right violence.

Already outlawed by Germany and Austria in the aftermath of World War II, the autobiography-cum-manifesto has in recent years become required reading for some Russian ultranationalist groups, despite the fact that it insults Slavs and calls for the colonization of their motherland.

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Comments

[Nym22]

07:30 AM on 04/16/2010

Are they going to ban 'Zweites Buch' too? That one was just as perverse

[vquest]

07:03 AM on 03/30/2010

Those neo nazis have been killing hundreds of people every year with not so much as an admonishment from law enforcement. Now they react by...banning a book?

[Nate the Heretic]

12:01 PM on 03/29/2010

Don't ban it, just let them read it so they know how ignorant and boring it is. At least that's what I thought about it. I'm so sick of people banning books. They are words, and part of a society's cultural history.

[deepintheheartoftejas]

10:32 PM on 03/28/2010

Stupid to ban it. You can find it online in the original german, and in several translations. You want to make it really unpopular, you should force kids to study it in school. I own a copy, and have tried at several times in my life to read it... it is absolutely boring dreck. It's hard to imagine anyone connecting with it today.

[BikeFreak]

10:29 PM on 03/28/2010

I don't understand how this is going to help.

Anyone interested in reading this book to "inspire" them are probably already complete and utter sociopaths. Or at least they are well on their way and it's just a matter of time.

And those interested in reading this book for any other purpose other than historical knowledge probably will not be swayed to become a deviant.

[Lefty83]

09:39 PM on 03/28/2010

I've read it and it was boring as hell. I don't know how anyone could be inspired to do anything after reading it.

[nowheremen22]

10:45 AM on 03/29/2010

I was only able to make it through the book once, a long time ago. I found it annoyingly boring as well. I still have my copy somewhere around the house.

[nowheremen22]

04:11 PM on 03/28/2010

Yes Hitler was evil. But "outlawing" a book is not going to accomplish anything. Most likely a preemptive measure what with Hitler's birthday coming up soon (4/20).

[VegetableMan]

12:47 PM on 03/28/2010

banning books. always a good idea.

irony, anyone?

[BikeFreak]

10:31 PM on 03/28/2010

I agree with you.

I agree 100% with the statement that the burning of books can easily lead to outlawing ideas and contributes to the development of ideological policing.

[Siebenstein]

04:19 PM on 04/04/2010

yeah, the next step was burning.

But, the shift to the right in so many countries is scary and needs to be addressed.
Banning a book is not addressing anything, openly talking about it would.

That goes for the US as well !

[GirlFriday123]

01:18 AM on 03/28/2010

Why would any Russian nationalist read that book anyway?

Maybe Russia should make it required for all Russians who would like Russia to remain Russia, not just Lebensraum.

[OtayPanky]

04:48 PM on 03/27/2010

Not everyone can grow a moustache like that.

[Steamboater]

01:18 PM on 03/27/2010

It's not Mein Kamph that fuels ignorance and hate in russia; it's the russian's centuries of alonenessa dn distrust of of the outside world so many of them still know little about, as well as centuries of anti-semitism that part and parcel of their culture and the russian orthodox church.

[Talossa]

12:11 PM on 03/27/2010

Hopefully Russia's neo-Nazis will read the book and follow its instructions to exterminate themselves.

[Siebenstein]

04:20 PM on 04/04/2010

how about US neo nazis, of whom many infiltrated already mainstream?

[Siebenstein]

04:21 PM on 04/04/2010

How about US Ne0-N@z is, of whom many infiltrated already mainstream?

[Bennett Walker]

09:38 PM on 03/26/2010

somehow glenn beck will find away to tie this in with his crazy conspiracy theories.

[LMPE]

08:11 PM on 03/26/2010

People should be allowed to be read "Mein Kampf" with the understanding that it is a hate-filled screed.

[Aziat]

10:36 PM on 03/26/2010

And what if they dont realize that its a hate filled screed? What if more gullible people are turned into neo-nazis after reading this? What then?

[tnlcallen]

06:26 AM on 03/27/2010

Maybe we should burn all offensive books. Give me a few minutes while I go grab my list.

[Steamboater]

01:20 PM on 03/27/2010

It diesn't help either when you have someone like Putin, who's a thug, destroying any freedom of the press in russia and threfore information that allows for really free elections.

[SpearTip]

09:49 AM on 03/27/2010

I agree, people should be educated about the hate in books like Mein Kampf. I have always felt that books like this should not only be allowed but required reading. If regular people don't start discussing books like these, then we leave it up to the racists and radicals.

[thepoliticalcat]

07:55 PM on 03/26/2010

Who'd have thunk that Russia had more liberal censorship policies than the rest of Europe? Although this repuls!ve book deserves to be b@nned, having contributed nothing to the world but a large helping of h8.

[colah]

10:47 AM on 03/28/2010

Deserves to be banned huh?
So, under that pretense, any book or medium that somebody deems to be repulsive or fostering hate needs to be banned. Is that right?
OK, well the Musllms think the bible is repulsive & hate-filled. So I guess it has to go. (good riddance),,,,the Christians think the Koran is repulsive (ditto).....Pat Robertson thought the purple telle-tubby was gay.....so where does it stop? At the point where YOU dont think its offensive?
It is a book, nothing more. You act like people will take what is written in it seriously and actually follow the ideas & twist & distort the content to fit their own personl agendas & beliefs......oh wait...isnt that the description of the bible? the koran?

[Siebenstein]

04:32 PM on 04/04/2010

I could give you my opinion where it should stop.

It should stop where a democratic society interested in a common good, finds a certain product offensive and damaging to a group, that is deemed inferior to other groups in that society.

How about that?