Mein Kampf

[Chris Perkins]

I'm just starting to read this epic Hitler novel! It's just an attempt to try to discover how the most infamous man of the 20th century (and quite possibly - of all time) functioned. The German language version is illegal in Germany, so I smuggled an English one in from Waterstones. I'm starting to hate modern German censorship more that I hate Naziism, which is worrying....I can't even 'see' WWI British medals or any Irish medals on eBay from here, I just get a message that says they're not allowed to show it because of restrictions in the country I reside.

In his lifetime did you know it sold 8 million German copies! That's a lot of books for what most people say is a very badly written, boring, monotonous and historically inaccurate (for the autobiographical parts) work.

Just the translators notes and the introduction and background are like a little novel themselves and I havn't actually got to the main part yet.

[scottishmoney]

I have thought of reading it, I imagine one needs a bit of schnapps to help it get interesting though. I wonder if the authorities would take exception if you had one of those 8 M copies from the original printings?

[Rob]

I have thought of reading it, I imagine one needs a bit of schnapps to help it get interesting though. I wonder if the authorities would take exception if you had one of those 8 M copies from the original printings?

There's nothing they can do about the originals in private hands and many of them will still be around. My wife is German and her parents had one (passed down from one of their parents) as it was virtually compulsory to have one in the 1930's but not to dispose of them in 1945 and so unless the owner felt particularly nervous about keeping it there was no incentive to throw it away. (How many books do we acquire but never dispose of?). It's quite interesting insofar as the text is gothic, but I never got around to reading the book.

[Chris Perkins]

I think all German books of that era were in a kind of Gothic script with strange s's and other odd looking leters that appear more modernised now. My girlfriend (also German) has a German Tolstoi book in the Gothic script. It takes a bit of getting used to first.

I know someone who has got an older edition (i'm not sure it it is contemporary to the life of the author). They are about, but certainly not on eBay!

I have always found something comical about Hitler. In fact the Germans have just started turning him into a comical figure, which until recently was taboo.

[Sergy]

Here, in Moscow, it legal to buy and to read it. However now we have our own Mein Kampf - Mein Plan by mr. Putin.

Yesterday I've listened to the radio about comparison pre-Hitler's Germany and post-soviet Russia. Very, very, very (till the last digit) similar. I am bit worry.

[scottishmoney]

Bad idea to have leaders from from security apparatus, or insane asylum.