Critical edition of Mein Kampf to be published in Germany
The Los Angeles Times reports that a critical edition of Mein Kampf, Hitler's diatribe against Jews, is to be published in Germany. Publication of Mein Kampf has been banned in Germany since the end of World War II. But a liberal democracy cannot tolerate such bans on free expression indefinitely. Last week, Stephan Kramer, the secretary-general of Germany's Central Council of Jews, the country's leading Jewish organization, said his group now backs a proposal to publish a new edition of "Mein Kampf," albeit with a scholarly introduction and notes that put it in context. The book, which Hitler wrote while he was serving a four-year sentence in a Bavarian prison in 1924, offers a chilling preview of his thoughts on racial purity and the Jews, as well as his belief that Germany needed to conquer new territory to fulfill its historic destiny. After Hitler came to power in 1933, millions of copies of "Mein Kampf" were sold (bought in many cases by the state and given out to newlyweds and soldiers in the Third Reich, making Hitler a millionaire).Having grown up in the US, I'm inclined to agree. You can't really ban ideas. But there's a lot you can do to make sure those ideas never take hold on a mass scale. Hopefully, Germany is a mature enough democracy now to make sure those ideas never take hold again. But I have my doubts and the issue is definitely not clear cut.
Kramer's decision is understandably controversial in a country where neo-Nazi groups have gained some ground in recent decades. The southern German state of Bavaria, which holds the copyright to "Mein Kampf" until it expires in 2015, opposes lifting the ban on the grounds that publication could strengthen the far right. Nevertheless, we believe Kramer's decision is both courageous and correct. As Sir Ian Kershaw, a historian and respected Hitler biographer, told Germany's Stern magazine: "A grown-up democracy like Germany does not need to fear that Hitler's damaging treatise would somehow constitute a threat to society."
That doesn't mean that Europe should relax its guard against racism, xenophobia or anti-Semitism. Only 64 years have passed since the end of the war, and it must remain a central goal to ensure that nothing like it happens again.
But stifling information is often counterproductive and rarely succeeds in stopping the spread of noxious ideas. "Mein Kampf," for instance, is easily available on the Internet, and all the laws that have banned the signs and symbols of Nazism in recent decades have not stopped Europe's extreme right from espousing similar ideas.
For those who have forgotten, let's go to the videotape from January:
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:52 AM
3 Comments:
In very large part, I disagree. It's probably inevitable, in a free society, but why does a Jewish group need to lead the way, or be a primary backer of other group(s) doing the heavier lifting?
Otoh, current condtions are certainly vastly and critically different from those faced, post WWI and during the Weimar's nascent and highly fractured democracy, in the immediate wake not only of WWI and the oppressive Treaty of Versailles that followed, but in the wake of a thousand-plus years of monarchical rule as well. So, that lends some perspective.
But, if anything is to be published, a highly erudite and conscientious critical edition, nicely bound for academic venues and less expensively bound for a wider market, perhaps would be propitious. Better, perhaps, than waiting for 2015 and allowing a less propitious publishing effort.
So, maybe it does make some sense. It's not as though there aren't editions throughout the world.
Michael B,
Suggest you read the whole article - not just the part I quoted. They raise an interesting - and frightening - possibility of what could happen when the copyright runs out if the book hasn't been published.
It's not a simple question, but it's legal to publish the book in the US and you don't see Nazism gaining root there.
I once took a class on the Third Reich (at an American university in the NE) with a student from Germany who was studying abroad. Since Mein Kampf can't be published there, he hadn't ever looked at it before. As it happened, the professor left in one page in the course pack with both the German and the translation. The German student commented that he had an easier time reading it in English- the book is so disorganized that it was easier to read in a non-native language, because the translator had to organize it in order to translate it!
Of the many things out there, Mein Kampf is not going to reignite anti-semitism.
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