Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Excerpts To Be Published In Germany, Riling Some Jewish Groups

Excerpts from Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" will be republished and sold in Germany in a series of pamphlets produced by British publisher Peter McGee, prompting some Jewish groups to denounce the partial reprint.

McGee plans to print sections of the dictator's work alongside commentaries from historians in his weekly magazine to allow people to gain better insight into Hitler's controversial text, Der Spiegel reports.

While "Mein Kampf" isn't banned in Germany, the Bavarian state government, which owns the copyright to the book until 2015, has not allowed the book to be published in its entirety, CNN reports.

At least two Jewish groups have mixed opinions regarding news of the partial reprint.

A representative from the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendents said the group wasn't sold on McGee's intentions.

"We want to make clear that there is nothing altruistic in the motivation of this publisher," Elan Steinberg, the group's vice-president, told CNN. "He's out to make a profit."

Dieter Graumann, speaking on behalf of Germany's Central Council of Jews, said he did not support the release of the text, but did say he would rather people read the text with the commentary than on a standalone basis.

"Anyone who plans to make profits with Hitler will certainly never have us on their side," Graumann told the Jerusalem Post. "In addition, no one should allow the kiosk to become a Nazi hotbed."

However, a German journalism professor and one of the book's contributing historians says it's time to get rid of the "taboo" often associated with "Mein Kampf."

"You can read this book around the world -- there is even a Hebrew translation in Israel," Horst Poettker told the SAPA wire service. "I think we should present it to as broad an audience as possible because it is the best way to learn what the National Socialists were thinking and what was so attractive about this ideology."

If publication remains on schedule, Jan. 26, 2012 will mark the first time a piece of "Mein Kampf" has been published in Germany since the end of World War II, CNN noted.

But the Bavarian government is doing its part to make sure that doesn't happen without consequences.

According to the Associated Press, the Finance Ministry of the German state of Bavaria issued a statement calling McGee's citations too long to be protected under copyright law.

McGee previously created controversy in 2009 after reprinting the Nazi newspaper Volkischer Beobachter, whose copyrights also belong to the Bavarian government, Der Spiegel reports.

Comments

[robertstone1robert]

04:13 PM on 04/25/2012

This trash has caused more harm than anything, with so many people killed, and they are going to publish the maniacal ravings of a lunatic. Apparently the Germans are still interested in their militarism. They think they've laid low long enough. People forgot. Shickelgruber, aka Hitler, is not pase. There are quite a few idiots who want to cling to their wanton bigotry, who idolize that moron.

[leoganz]

12:30 AM on 01/28/2013

If you would stop ranting and read the article you would find in the first paragraph that it's an Englishman publishing excepts not the blood thirsty Germans hell bent on another Reich.....

[robertstone1robert]

12:42 PM on 01/28/2013

If you would stop raving long enough to read a modicum of history the name of Oswald Mosley, the most prominent among British Nazi sympathizers, would ring a bell. He was a duke, knighted no less. There were other, less prominent sympathizers in the House of Lords. It was even suspected that King Edward VII was among them.

In conclusion, then, it makes no difference who the guilty party is. My rant stands intact, impervious to your nonsensical criticism.

[KrautMan]

02:48 AM on 01/28/2013

You obviously did not bother to read the article, did you.

[kelliwalters4u]

11:01 PM on 01/29/2012

Personally I can't wait to read it.I think it allows a person to get inside Adolf's head a bit.I'm not sure why Jewish people now would be offended by it,everything happened so long ago.Christians,Muslims and jews have killed millions over the centuries all in the name of religion.What Hitler did isn't any worse than what they have done in the past.Time to move on folks.

[robertstone1robert]

04:20 PM on 04/25/2012

The book comes with a warning: "Guaranteed to Stultify." You can't WAIT to read this trash? You've read all the classics?
You want to get into nice Uncle Adolf's mind? It's empty. Are you a psychiatrist? Lunacy has to be explored only by a professional.

[KrautMan]

02:54 AM on 01/28/2013

"Lunacy has to be explored only by a professional."

Maybe you should rather post your lunat!c ramblings on a message board for professionals then.

[clarissa49]

04:28 PM on 01/30/2013

Isn't the whole book still available in book stores?

[da nobis hodie31]

07:26 PM on 01/20/2012

Publish Hitler? Right, because, that worked so well last time....Endorsing Hitler isn't just offensive to Jewish people; it's offensive to every soldier who gave their lives to silence him. Grow a conscience!

[robertstone1robert]

04:22 PM on 04/25/2012

You said it best. Fanned.

[edwardandersons]

06:21 PM on 01/20/2012

The Nazi emblem is actually taken from the symbol of Theosophy which was created by the occult leader Helen Blavatsky. So Hitler may have claimed to be Christian but it was a cover and might have been used as a way to deceive the world into hating Christians besides just hating Jews. Theosophy is based on the beleif system that 'we are all gods' and it is the basis for the new age religions which have rise in popularity in the last century. Blavatsky has even claimed in her books that Lucifer is the one she worships and is at the heart of her beleif system which is quite scary since alot of Chrisitans consider him as one of the fallen one's.Blavatsky was taught that the most powerful symbol of these esoteric ones was the Swastika. She wrote there were 7 stages of evolution – she named them “route races”. The race which should rise again to true spirit she named Aryans. In Tibet the Swastika was known as the “son of fire and creation” , but in Madame Blavatsky’s teachings the Swastika was the symbol of the Aryan race.

[henryptnm]

06:20 AM on 01/22/2012

In Wikipedia, it shows the history of the Swastika. In some of European churches had that symbol. The Finnish Air Force had it on their fighter planes during WWII. It is a blue Swastika on a white field. To the Finns, the symbol means good luck. The Finnish Air Force still have it as an Air Force Flag but not on their fighter planes. I am of Finnish descent and I went to Finland. I went to a military cemetery and I saw it in the center of the cemetery. My father told me that symbol has been there before the Nazi Party and before Hitler.

[leoganz]

12:33 AM on 01/28/2013

The 45th Infantry Division (American) had a yellow swastika patch on the arm up until the early 30's...

[speedking8899]

12:34 PM on 01/20/2012

nazism was just another anti-semitic gentile cult in a continuation of xtianity's 2000 year anti-semitic history of hate. the mindless book should be allowed just as other anti-semitic garbage like the "protecols of the elder of zion'. Let the brain dead of the world surround themselves with convoluted nonsense like this. I'm happy that they nothing of substance between their ears. Who want them to cognitively capture anything worthwhile. They can stay stupid, its no skin off my nose. What can any of these savages do now?--- The IAF is the best. End of story.

[trekie70]

09:53 AM on 01/20/2012

While I understand that this book would be offensive to some, the right to free speech must take precedence in order to avoid the creation of a very slippery slope. That said, I would support a complete reprint instead of just excerpts so that the full context can be understood.

[alblonie116]

08:18 AM on 01/20/2012

Difficult subject. 66 years ago. think of that. anymore wars goin on,or on drawing board? bywho?

[Madim]

05:51 AM on 01/20/2012

Whatever happened to "freedom of speech" ?
No book should ever be banned.
Only the ones who want to control people resort to such measures. Or the ones who have something to hide that is described in the book they want to ban.

When someone doesn't want us to read a book, we have to ask ourselves what that book contains that could be detrimental to them. It's like pointing a finger at oneself.

[rdhawk70]

11:57 AM on 01/20/2012

Freedom of speech is a right under the US Constitution, not necessarily other countries. What about books like "Anarchists Cookbook", that give detailed instruction on things like bomb making and other destructive devices, or how about a book that detailed you? address, phone number, bank account numbers, other personal information, would you want that banned? would you want that stuff "hidden"? would that make you a "bad" person?

[edwardandersons]

06:01 PM on 01/20/2012

You are speaking about rights of privacy when referring to books which have info on your private life not freedome of speech. Hitler is a subject which has been researched for history purposes so the book should be allowed to give people a better understanding of what type of individual he was that made him do what he did. A book which gives details on how to make 'bombs' should be banned since it gives instructions on how to hurt people physically. I mean if you look at it as a book of hate then books about muslims containing hateful info should also be banned. How can people have a full understanding of Hitler's idealogy if we do not have all the facts to determine what fueled his hate for the jewish people? They say history repeats itself so in order to prevent future scenarios like this is by knowing Hitler's motivation along with other evil dictators.

[Hugo Rune]

07:54 AM on 01/21/2012

Well, freedom of speech is of course protected in Germany (Article 5 Grundgesetz - German Constitution). It's just not the absolute, no exceptions possible, "speech beats all else" provision that it is in America.

Fact is, fundamental rights are interpreted sightly different in Europe than they are in the US. Mostly their importance is weighed slightly different. Different historical experiences can explain that. Germany has its own "unbeatable" provision in its constitution (human dignity that is) and on the European level (through the European Convention on Human Rights), its "torture and cruel or degrading treatment or punishment" that allows for no exceptions at all.

All this leads to misunderstandings rather often. Americans look at Europe and are shocked when Freedom of Speech is infringed but from the European perspective, its no infringement, just other rights or considerations take precedence because they are deemed more important in this or that single instance. Believe me, it's the same the other way round. Europeans cannot understand how in America you can fiddle around with the definition of torture and try to make waterboarding legal. Wouldn't ever fly in Europe because of absolute protection against cruel and degrading treatment.

[Air Vice Marshal Park]

12:17 AM on 01/20/2012

I read this book as a teenager and the contents seemed to spill off the page like a kicked over garbage can, it made little sense in its meanderings and randomness. I wanted to figure out how it could have possibly captivated a modern, highly cultured and literate nation to such a great degree and I put it down with none of my questions answered.

Much later in life, as I witnessed the rise of the RW in America, little snippets of the book started coming into my head as analogues to what was hatching in my own country. Today, I see whole chapters being played out on our political stage and MK is becoming frighteningly understandable.

[LaoShur]

04:04 AM on 01/20/2012

My mom's side of the family lived in Germany during its rise and fall at the hands of the Nazis. They [Nazis] didn't die and were never meant to, just pass on to a different form after the hubbub was over. Thousands of loyal party members were incorporated into the Military Industrial Complex of the Untied States after the war. The CIA alone employed hundreds.....

[horseguards]

06:09 AM on 01/20/2012

Air Vice,

I question whether many actually read this. I would suggest it is/was a political manifesto; and how many voters actually read those?

[FrancisKing]

07:02 PM on 01/20/2012

Yes, I agree - it was a political manifesto. When Blomberg got married, he got a copy handed to him personally by Adolf Hitler. Blomberg then left it behind after the marriage.

Some of the most ignorant in the Arab world buy into Mein Kampf, in the same way they buy into the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. But Rosenberg's Theory of the Racial Ladder was removed before Mein Kampf was translated into Arabic. In this theory, Arabs rated about the same as Jews.Hitler suggested removing this section in order to make the book more marketable.

[browpeter]

11:35 PM on 01/19/2012

No book should ever be banned is right especially this one because it is so badly written, and so incomprehensively boring that I believe that the Germans went along with it because they were randomly woken from their torpor and just said whatever? That is what led to the tragedy of the third reich. It is also an excellenet example of how a demagog becomes a demigod. Read it and learn, but get the Cliff'notes, the original was just bad. It's like a Wagner opera without the music and only fat middle class orators going on randomly with unrelated text and words.

[Trapped in Arizona]

11:19 PM on 01/19/2012

The more you try to suppress something -- be it art, literature, or garbage like Mein Kampf -- the more people will long to see it or will find ways to surreptitiously acquire it. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

[reader1]

06:27 PM on 01/20/2012

True very true!

[Kyuzo]

09:11 PM on 01/19/2012

I read Mein Kampf. It's very important to understand the origins of the darkest aspects of humanity. No book should ever be banned.

[Mr Anonymous]

09:37 PM on 01/19/2012

I was thinking the same thing. If it has historical analysis and commentary what's the big problem? It's a valuable learning experience that people shouldn't pass up. It's not like they're pass it off as propoganda again.

[Michael GE]

08:21 AM on 01/21/2012

But - as the article states - it isn't banned at all. It's just that the right to reprint it lies with the Bavarian government and they refused so far any reprint. That right will end in 2015.

I am German and I am a studied historian. If I look at the longue durée it was a wise decision not to keep on publishing it or treat it like a book, an opinion as any else. In Germany's historian circles there is an ongoing project to publish a commented edition once the exclusive rights of Bavaria expire in 2015.

Let me ask you this: It was a purposeful (and right!) decision by the Allies that for example Prussia as a state was disassembled after WWII, wasn't it? Compared to that, the decision not to reprint a book is minor, isn't it? The SU decided to burn H.'s remains and scatter them into the winds so as to not establish a potential rallying point, and they were right in doing so, weren't they?

Ultimately, it was a good thing that we were forced, forced ourselves, into an absolute break with that history. Else, I suppose, we wouldn't have healed.

Sure, today, generations past, we can and should publish it again to make people understand.

[nastynorm]

08:52 PM on 01/19/2012

"Mein Kampf" My struggle,like the middle class in this country.Except not being mad.

[buggeroffyou666]

08:10 PM on 01/19/2012

If they really want to be informed about Hitler I think all of the sections with Hitler talking about his STRONG Christian beliefs should definitely be republished so that there can be no mistake about his theology or the theology of the NAZI party.

[Kyuzo]

09:23 PM on 01/19/2012

"Christians" usually have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual teachings of Christ. The fact that there are even churches is antithetical to what he said in Matthew 6.

[Elliot Stamler]

08:26 PM on 01/25/2012

If you knew anything about Hitler you would know he was deeply, profoundly anti-Christian and repeatedly stated privately that after the war organized Christian churches would be banned and a nazified "German Christian" racial religion be ordained. In his "Table Talk" he repeatedly expresses his contempt and loathing for Christianity. Read some major biographies of him; he did not believe in God as religious people conceive the deity much less the Christian faith.

[buggeroffyou666]

06:25 AM on 01/26/2012

Thats why god is in his writing in the NAZI uniforms in the pledge, why he braged of stommping out atheism and why his firt deal was with the church.
I DO know history...try again.

[buggeroffyou666]

03:47 PM on 01/26/2012

Now that I'm back.
a) Hitler was baptized as Roman Catholic during infancy in Austria.
b) As Hitler approached boyhood he attended a monastery school. (On his way to school young Adolf daily observed a stone arch which was carved with the monastery’s coat of arms bearing a swastika.)
c) Hitler was a communicant and an altar boy in the Catholic Church.
d) As a young man he was confirmed as a “soldier of Christ.” His most ardent goal at the time was to become a priest. Hitler writes of his love for the church and clergy: “I had excellent opportunity to intoxicate myself with the solemn splendor of the brilliant church festivals. As was only natural, the abbot seemed to me, as the village priest had once seemed to my father, the highest and most desirable ideal.” -Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
e) Hitler was NEVER excommunicated nor condemned by his church. Matter of fact the Church felt he was JUST and “avenging for God” in attacking the Jews for they deemed the Semites the killers of Jesus..

[riff4u]

07:18 PM on 01/19/2012

It's pretty much in practice now- it's called the GOP.

[arakuzi]

01:34 AM on 01/20/2012

there are Jews in the GOP...dumb comment, go back to the toillet and let roll

[Rosanne Smithe]

10:28 PM on 04/25/2012

Trust an Obamabot to make such a comparison