I was wondering if anybody had actually read Mein Kampf? It's the kind of book that many people claim to have read, but few actually have. What were your thoughts about it? What kind of reaction did you get from anybody who found out you were reading it?

I read it many years ago, but in english. If you are at all familiar with Hitler's thinking (and I assume you are since you are posting here) it is pretty much what you'd expect - a lot of incredibly racist, half-baked illogical wackism disguised with some fancy language. Hitler's lack of education really shows - I suspect as an essay it would get a lousy grade in a freshman college logic class, even if it weren't so offensive.

I tried to read it in English as well many years ago, as a protest against being set the Communist Manifesto to read! I figured one bunch of sententious clap trap was just as good (or perhaps bad would be a better choice) to read as the other - & I was right. Danny's comments are dead on, even in English it's virtually unreadable, I can't imagine what it would be like reading it in German! It's basically like listening to a bigotted drunk rambling on in the pub about what's wrong with the world, but put down on paper. When I say I "read" it, I mean I left out great chunks, as it was boring & repetitive; frightening to think this guy went on to lead Germany.

Actually, now I think about it, it was probably a master stroke making it unreadable, because Mein Kampf encompasses Hitler's entire future plans, even to the creation of "Lebensraum" in the East, & the destruction of European Jewry. He never deviated from the aims he set out in Mein Kampf; the history of Europe from 1933 - 45 might have been quite different if more people had read it & taken it seriously (granted that would have been pretty difficult to do, it being so extreme).

I read it years ago out of curiosity. Some stuff in there made sense while the majority was just out there. It was extremely boring and essentially an ego trip. I have no idea what happened to my copy but it's not missed.

I've read it too after I came to study in the US. (Back home it's not allowed to be published.) It's funny, by the way, seeing it in Borders... And there's no foreword from the author, no biography... not the usual format, that's for sure.

A chilling read - it's kind of hard to accept what everybody said after the war, that they didn't suspect anything. Chamberlain should have read it before negotiating with that monster.

Never read it, but I might try to after reading this thread.
I just looked it up in our library system up here for kicks... I'm actually shocked how many copies are listed as "lost", 9 of 23 copies and most of the rest are checked out. Huh...

It's causing big to do at the moment in germany.The copyright runs out in 2017 and the State of Bavaria who own it? and uses the profits from it's limited issues for charitable works is concerned about what will happen then..Some publisher is planning a fully annotated big blowsy edition complete with photo's of the authors life and places of significence in his rise to power...

I bought a copy a few years back at a book store that was going out of business. I figured for a few bucks it would be worth having it as a historical piece. I read maybe the first page and could not take any more of it. Like many have said before, it's a horrible piece of writing and a big racist ego trip.

Sean

I thumbed through it a couple of times while in high school and college. Just couldn't get very far. I did drive by and see the prison he was in where he wrote it. It's btwn Munich and Augsburg.

I read an abridged version of it as a teenager, and have read bits of it in the original German. My reaction's more or less the same as the rest of you, but I must say it reads a hell of a lot better in the original language (in spite of my imperfect German). However, what you must remember, is that while a lot of it sounds corny and stupid when read in this day and age, it probably sounded powerful and charismatic at the time. Watching Hitler's rantings at Nuremburg, it all looks a bit comical now, but probably wasn't at the time. The world was far more naive and easily led back then, and superimposing present day morality on historic events will just distort the true picture. I mean, we'd probably laugh at Churchill if he were to give those speeches today in the House of Commons.

Leaders have just changed the way they say basically the same things. Rodger, please feel free to delete this paragraph if you think it's too "current events", but I'm using it as an example, and not as a commentary. The current US leadership have convinced the American public to accept places like Guantanamo (in spite of the fact that it's unconstitutional), something that would be unthinkable 20 years ago. And the reason isn't that they're good orators, but that the populace is fertile ground for a particular thinking. At the time, Germany was open to Hitler's ideas on expansion, racial superiority, and the Jews. I've lived in Germany, and spoken to several WW2 veterans and their children. They may not have known (at least initially) that the Jews were being murdered, but they certainly agreed with what the Nazis said, in effect that the Jews were the vermin of Germany and had to be removed. Hitler's agenda was quite clear to the German people.

I've read large chunks but never every word in order. One thing that did strike me was how it seemed to be presented very logically. For example if you believe or feel this... well then this is why..... (you had to dig through a lot of words to get there) There did seemed to be a "target audience." It does seem to ramble but when reading you do get "caught up in it" so to speak. I think it is a testament to how Hitler dooped the German people.

Actually, the reason we accept Guantanamo is the simple reason of who is being held in there, namely non-American terrorists who would be happy to slaughter us all. As far as constitutionality is concerned, it's quite an unclear legal matter on how to deal with these people. Enemy combatants? Legal criminals? Sorry, but we honestly don't know, and they're stuck until we can figure it out.

Tom, as I said in my last post, I'm not making a comment on Guantanamo or US policy (positive or negative), but just using it as an example of how an administration can steer a fertile populace down a particular path that previous or later generations might not (and may not) take. That's all. What you said, about people feeling that the Gitmo prisoners deserve to be there, is exactly the point. Because Americans agree in general with the policy they can be convinced of the execution.

In the years leading upto WW2, the German population had started to focus all their problems on the communists and the Jews. So for the Nazis to then convince them that the Jews should be expelled was relatively easy.

I am in no way comparing the US admin to the Nazis or Americans to Germans, so don't misunderstand my point.

It is one of those books I want to read, but never have. To me it is a part of history and being able to look back with what me know now I am sure it adds to the book. When it was published in the 1930's it was only one mans rambling, now we can see what was on his mind and tie the book to it. It is strange being able to walk into just about any book store and see Mein Kampf on the shelf. I was just at my local store and they had more books on Hitler than they did for FDR in the biography section. Then in the history section they had several different versions of Mein Kampf.

I suppose one day I will get a copy of it along with the Communist Manifesto and read then. Just a side questions, how many of you have read any works by Thomas Paine?

This is actually not true. Most of the people there are innocents picked up by mistake -or worse. But even if they were, the whole thing is against international and US law.

Back to Adolf: the book is not rambling at all. Egotrip -maybe, but not rambling. That's so scary about it.

From what I've heard in the past, the Germans were forced to buy it, but few actually read the book. Pilot Hans Ulrich-Rudel surprised his American captors when he told them he flipped through the book but never actually read it.

It should also be noted that Hitler was able to captivate audiences less by what he said, but how he was able to perform during his speeches. (Magician Harry Houdini became famous not because his magic tricks were so clever, but because he was such a great performer.)

I don't think anyone was forced to buy it, but in the officer corps it was obviously an advantage to one's career to be seen to be ideologically correct. So buying or possessing the book was a sign of patriotism and loyalty. Bit like wearing the national flag on one's lapel.

As for Hitler's speeches, I don't think it's correct to say that it was his performance that waas the key. Remember that only a small fraction of the population (the military, party high-rankers, and some of the public) actually were present. The vast majority listened to him on the radio, or read the speeches in the newspapers. His words struck the right chord, and that's what did it.

Amazingly a copy was officially presented to newly-married couples...

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-04/tgmwc-04-29-03.shtml

I remember reading that a PoW was worried about what his captors might think when one was found in his kit, even though it was a wedding present.

David

All married couples were given a copy by the state. SS couples were given a special edition in a wooden box “casket” as a wedding present. Those couples were also given salt, bread, and a special wooden marriage bowl.

People in Germany were very happy, overall, with Hitler after he took power and bought his book as a matter of course. The book actually sold very poorly until after he was elected.

In my opinion if you read it when it originally came out it would have been ramblings of a mad man. Of course today, we know better.

Just like Viagra & some other wonder- drug anti depressant are the miracle of our generation,it was in the 1930´s that Amphetamine Sulphate was. Hitler was a great fan of it , so there´s no wonder Mein Kampf didn´t make much sense although he was a great performer. Maybe he should´ve been a DJ or one helluva jitterbug dancer.

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At the time the book was written he wasn't yet a junkie (Not to mention he probably also had neural syphilis in the later stages of his life). And the book is not just a rambling of a madman. It's very easy to dismiss people saying they're high or crazy, but the reality is much more complex.



By the way. Have you seen the British series "Hallo, hallo"?
It's a hilarious comedy about Occupied France with an inn owner who has to balance between the German officers and the Resistance, a Gestapo man, a gay panzer commander who is in love with him, and his wife and two of his lovers, not to mention the completely stupid English airmen who were shot down and hiding in his inn. Anyway, there was this scene about the date between the Gestapo man (whose uncle is Himmler himself), and a German female clerk. The guy takes out his record collection of speeches of Hitler, saying he loves listening to it, and the occasion is perfect. His date is taken aback, asking if he really means that, and the answer is, yes, on double speed.

Thanks for the heads up on that series. BTW it is Allo Allo!

I added season one to my Netflix.

I've read a lot of Tom Paine's stuff - absolutely brilliant, and as Billy Bragg once wrote, I'd love to sit down and have a beer with Tom Paine. Oddly, he is really under-appreciated in US history courses. "Common Sense" can be read on at least three levels: as a terrific laying-out of the issues facing the American colonists in 1776, as a great example of political issue-framing, and as a terrifically colorful piece of writing. I mean even if you don't give a rat's arse about politics (I am am junkie for it) it is a very funny piece of advocacy journalism. I think every American ought to be strongly encouraged to read it, and frankly anyone who cares about justice will find it useful.

"The Age of Reason" is another of his works I love and have given as a gift to many people. It's just the thing for a college student. Paine wrote some of it while inprisoned in France. If you like Richard Dawkins this would be right up your alley, but Paine was writing 200 years ago.

As for the "Communist Manifesto", yup, I've read that and much of Marx's other stuff too. The manifesto is another great piece of writing, which I must say is unusual for Marx, who is usually very tough to get through if you don't have a pretty good background already. "Capital" is almost unreadable....worth it if you are interested in the history of economic and political ideas, but not easy to get through. Much of his other stuff is typical german philosophy...not much fun unless you are very deep into it.

To summarize, I'd put Tom Paine absolutely on the top shelf of political writers; Marx is a necessary component if you want the education, otherwise don't bother; Hitler is simply toilet paper.

Brilliant. "'Allo 'Allo" was one of my favourite comedies and is a spoof on the old Brit series "Secret Army", which was about a Resistance group that's helping downed pilots escape.