‘Mein Kampf’ published in Germany for 1st time since WWII

The book that is now on sale is not Hitler’s original but rather a heavily annotated 2000-page edition titled Hitler, Mein Kampf — A critical edition that includes thousands of remarks and comments by experts. Last month, the president of the German Association of Teachers, Josef Kraus, argued for integrating the new edition into high school classrooms, as part of efforts to educate young Germans about the dangers of extremist thinking and the atrocities carried out by previous generations.

The book looks at key historical questions, such as, “how were his theses conceived?” What objectives did he have?

However, he said it was important to him to stock the annotated edition – priced at 59 euros ($64) – because “it takes apart all Hitler’s lies, propaganda tricks and rhetorical tricks with 3,500 footnotes, so that in the end not much is left of them”.

Germany’s education minister said Friday that the new version being launched in Munich would help debunk myths surrounding the work.

But the Jewish community questioned whether it was necessary to propagate the incendiary text again.

Editorial team leader Christian Hartmann said only a properly annotated edition could show the public how “aggressive the hate sermon” in the book truly was. Heavy demand for the first edition of Hitler’s Mein Kampf to be printed in Germany since his death is taking its publisher by surprise, with orders received for nearly four times the print run. The publication has been controversial; while some Jewish groups have endorsed the annotated edition, others have opposed it.

He added: “It would be best to leave “Mein Kampf” where it belongs: the poison cabinet of history”.

Roger Cukierman, the president of the council of Jewish institutions, called the planned French reprints “a disaster”.

Partly autobiographical, “Mein Kampf” outlines Hitler’s ideology that formed the basis for Nazism.

Michael Lemling, the manager of the Lehmkuhl bookshop in Munich, said “Mein Kampf” was “probably the worst thing we’ve ever had here – the text is anti-Semitic, racist and militarist”.

The two-volume German political treatise, written by Hitler between 1924 and 1926 while in prison after his failed coup, became a bestseller in the 1930s when he came to power.

The book set out two ideas that he put into practice as Germany’s leader going into World War II: annexing neighbouring countries to gain “Lebensraum”, or “living space”, for Germans; and his hatred of Jews, which led to the Holocaust.

The book remains banned in Austria and the Netherlands.