Old copies of the offending tome are kept in a secure "poison cabinet," a literary danger zone in the dark recesses of the vast Bavarian State Library. A team of experts vets every request to see one, keeping the toxic text away from the prying eyes of the idly curious or those who might seek to exalt it.
"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 and that was 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.
Although authorities here struck deals with online sellers such as Amazon.com to prohibit sales in Germany, new copies of "Mein Kampf" have become widely available via the Internet around the globe. In retail stores in India, it is enjoying strong popularity as a self-help book for Hindu nationalists. A comic-book edition was issued in Japan. A new generation of aficionados is also rising among the surging ranks of the far right in Europe. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn in Greece, for instance, has stocked "Mein Kampf" at its bookstore in Athens.
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.
"I am absolutely against the publication of 'Mein Kampf,' even with annotations. Can you annotate the devil? Can you annotate a person like Hitler?" said Levi Salomon, spokesman for the Berlin-based Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism."This book is outside of human logic."
Not surprisingly, the new edition has become a political hot potato, illustrating the always-awkward question of how modern Germany should deal with its past. Initially, Bavaria, for instance, had pledged $575,000 to directly support publication of the new edition for historical purposes. But it backed out after the Bavarian governor's 2012 visit to Israel, where he heard withering criticism of the proposal from Holocaust survivors.
That left the state-funded organization putting out the new edition — the Munich-based Institute of Contemporary History — in a bind. Since the late 1940s, the institute has analyzed the rise and aftermath of the Nazis, putting out annotated texts such as Hitler's speeches. The single most important work it has not yet published in annotated form is, in fact, "Mein Kampf." Since 2012, it has had a team of academics laboring on the new edition in preparation of the copyright's expiry.
Despite the chorus of opposition, particularly from Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors, the institute has opted to go ahead with publication, funding it from its general budget — a task made easier by the fact that Bavaria allowed it to keep the original grant for other research purposes.
"I understand some immediately feel uncomfortable when a book that played such a dramatic role is made available again to the public," said Magnus Brechtken, the institute's deputy director. "On the other hand, I think that this is also a useful way of communicating historical education and enlightenment — a publication with the appropriate comments, exactly to prevent these traumatic events from ever happening again."
A rambling, repetitive work panned by literary critics for its pedantic style, "Mein Kampf" was drafted by Hitler in a Bavarian jail after the failed Nazi uprising in Munich of November 1923. It was initially published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926, with later, joint editions forming a kind of Nazi handbook. During the Third Reich, some German cities doled out copies to Aryan newlyweds as wedding gifts.
The book also laid the groundwork for the Holocaust, stating, for instance, that Jews are and "will remain the eternal parasite, a freeloader that, like a malignant bacterium, spreads rapidly whenever a fertile breeding ground is made available to it."
Contrary to popular belief, "Mein Kampf" — or "My Struggle" — was never banned in post-war Germany; only its reprinting was. Of the more than 12.4 million copies in existence before 1945, hundreds of thousands are thought to survive. Old copies can still be sold in antiquarian bookstores. But public access is generally confined to a few restricted repositories such as the library here in Munich, which only permits viewings based on academic need or historical research. Bavarian authorities also have played cat and mouse with those who have sought to publish "Mein Kampf" online, acting to block German-language versions posted on the Internet whenever possible.
Brechtken said that the new print version would point out, for instance, how Hitler appeared to borrow his views from other sources, and it would refute his racist claims. Bavarian officials also say they will seek to apply incitement-to-hate laws on any attempt to publish unannotated versions in the future. But so far, they say they will not seek to block publication of the institute's expounded version, citing the benefits it may bring to historical research.
Yet vocal opposition appears to be growing. Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Jewish Community in Munich, said she had not vigorously opposed it when the project first surfaced. But her position, she said, hardened after hearing from outraged Holocaust survivors.
"This book is most evil; it is a worse anti-Semitic pamphlet and a guidebook for the Holocaust," she said "It is a Pandora's Box that, once opened again, cannot be closed."
The Washington Post
Wed Feb 25 2015
Critics say the new German edition of "Mein Kampf" will ultimately allow Hitler's voice to rise from beyond the grave.
PAC akan mulakan prosiding isu dibangkit LKAN Siri 2/2024
Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang Negara (PAC) akan memulakan prosiding bagi empat isu yang dibangkitkan dalam Laporan Ketua Audit Negara (LKAN) Siri 2/2024.
AWANI Ringkas: Kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini | Skandal LCS
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
ADUN Rembia sertai Pas, kenapa tak umum tahun lepas? - MP Kampar
Chong Zhemin, tindakan tersebut seolah-olah satu penghinaan paling besar kepada Parlimen yang telah meluluskan pindaan Perlembagaan Persekutuan berkait Akta Antilompat Parti.
Masuk Pas untuk sama-sama susah dengan rakyat - ADUN Rembia
Muhamad Jailani berkata, sebelum ini beliau pernah menghantar surat kepada Lembaga Disiplin UMNO memohon untuk memecat keahliannya daripada parti Melayu itu.
[TERKINI] Astro dipilih sebagai penyiar rasmi Olimpik Paris 2024
Astro dipilih sebagai penyiar rasmi bagi Sukan Olimpik Paris 2024 bermula hujung bulan ini.
[TERKINI] Speaker DUN Melaka tunggu surat rasmi Muhammad Jailani
DUN Melaka masih menunggu surat rasmi daripada Pas berhubung tindakan ADUN Rembia, Datuk Muhamad Jailani Khamis yang menyertai Pas.
Sasar sumbang RM500 bilion kepada kdnk tempoh tiga tahun
Selangor perlu merancakkan semula kapasiti pembuatan untuk tidak hanya memenuhi keperluan tempatan, tetapi menjadikan negeri itu sebagai asas kepada pelan peluasan ke rantau Asia Tenggara dan Asia.
Wanita dihempap kayu balak mula sedarkan diri
Wanita yang nyaris maut akibat dihempap kayu balak dalam kejadian di lampu isyarat di Persimpangan Bendahara, Jalan Gua Musang-Kuala Krai di sini 9 Julai lepas, kini dilaporkan mula sedarkan diri.
Sah suspek anggota polis
Ketua Polis Selangor, Datuk Hussein Omar Khan mengesahkan suspek bunuh Nur Farah Kartini, ialah anggota polis.
Suspek juga yang dipercayai teman lelaki mangsa dan bertugas di Perak.
Suspek juga yang dipercayai teman lelaki mangsa dan bertugas di Perak.
Suspek dibawa ke lokasi kejadian di ladang kelapa sawit
Suspek kes pembunuhan bekas penuntut UPSI Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah dibawa ke lokasi kejadian di ladang kelapa sawit di Kampung Sri Keledang, Hulu Bernam, Selangor.
Presiden Brazil bandingkan serangan Israel ke atas Gaza dengan tindakan holokus oleh Hitler
Israel akan panggil duta Brazil untuk menegur kenyataan Presiden Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yang disifatkan 'melampaui batas.'
Aligator dipercayai peliharaan Hitler mati pada usia 84 tahun
Saturn dilahirkan di Mississippi, Amerika Syarikat (AS) sebelum dihantar ke zoo Berlin, Jerman.
'Aku berterima kasih kepada Hitler kerana Holocaust' - Alasan graduan buat simbol ala Nazi
Gambar graduan tersebut dengan gaya tabik hormat yang digunakan semasa zaman pemerintahan Adolf Hitler di Jerman itu kemudiannya dikongsikan ke dalam laman Facebook peribadinya sebelum dipadam.
Kalau Tun Mahathir 'diktator', bagaimana pula dengan 10 pemimpin ini?
Ini 10 profil diktator seluruh dunia yang kejam semasa era pemerintahannya sehingga mencipta sejarah moden.
Rekod perubatan sahkan Hitler cuma miliki satu buah zakar
Satu rekod perubatan penjara menunjukkan Adolf Hitler menghidap suatu penyakit yang menyebabkan testis tidak turun ke dalam skrotum.
Hitler itu mungkin ada benarnya
Mengapa kempen Adolf Hitler bahawa Yahudi adalah bangsa yang bahaya, telah merosak dan mengancam Jerman, mendapat sambutan ketika itu?
Undian: Majoriti mahu Bung Mokhtar tarik balik tweet yang disiarkan
AstroAwani.com bertanya, apa yang perlu dilakukan oleh Bung Mokhtar susulan permohonan maaf beliau tentang kenyataan "Hidup Hitler"?
Mesej MCA kepada Bung Mokhtar
Pengerusi Biro Keharmonian Agama MCA, Datuk Ti Lian Ker mengulas komen Bung Mokhtar yang mengaitkan Adolf Hitler dengan pasukan bolasepak Jerman.
PM patut gesa Bung Mokhtar letak jawatan, kata Ong Kian Ming
Ahli Parlimen Serdang itu membuat gesaan berhubung kenyataan kontroversi Bung Mokhtar Radin mengaitkan pasukan Jerman dengan Adolf Hitler.
Bung Mokhtar buat hal lagi
Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin mencetuskan kontroversi apabila mengaitkan pasukan Jerman yang membelasah Brazil 7-1 awal pagi tadi dengan Adolf Hitler.