CHENNAI: Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto, Mein Kampf (My struggle) is back on the bookshelves in Germany for the first time since World War II and has already found its way to the best-sellers list there. And not surprisingly, it has already created a stir in the region, with publishers divided over encouraging the re-run.
Written in 1924 by Hitler when he was imprisoned, the book was eventually banned after his death for being anti-semitic and was withheld from publication for seven decades in Germany and in several countries of the European Union. However, several versions of the book have been available online and in book stores across India and has always been a sought-after book among publishers.
“Hitler has always been a fascinating figure to know about. To learn what goes on in the mind of such a person is always interesting to read,” says S Karthik, a software engineer. Karthik’s was not an uninformed statement. Those in the publishing business are of a similar opinion.
“A short Tamil biography on Hitler by writer Pa Raghavan was one of the most popular and high selling books from our house. We sold almost 10,000 copies a year,” Badri Sheshadri, MD, New Horizon Media told Express. Badri’s publishing house went on to publish two more books on Hitler and they all found their way to the bookshelves of readers.
“When a book is successful, other publishers will soon follow suit and there will be different versions of the book. That is why, any book fair you go to, Mein Kampf finds a place on the racks,” Badri adds.
Mein Kampf or the several biographies of Hitler need not draw the same emotions and reactions as it might draw in the European continent.
“When I read the book, the first 100 pages felt like a critique of labour camps. Not a racist, venom-spewing literature as it eventually turned out to be,” says V Sudarshan, a media
professional. However, if there is one thing that I would like to go back in time and change, “I would admit him in the Vienna School of Arts,” he says.
To think that Hitler himself had little faith in the written word is the irony here. These are Hitler’s words from his foreword to Mein Kampf: “I know that fewer people are won over by the written word than by the spoken word and that every great movement on earth owes its growth to great speakers and not to great writers.”
The Institute of Contemporary History of Munich had been planning to print only 4,000 copies of its annotated version of the anti-Semitic diatribe. But on the first day of its sale, 15,000 copies had been pre-ordered by bookstores.
Factfile
Partly autobiographical, Mein Kampf outlines Hitler’s ideology that formed the basis for Nazism
He wrote it in 1924 while he was imprisoned in Bavaria for treason after his failed Beer Hall Putsch, a coup attempt
The book set out two ideas that he put into practice: annexing neighbouring countries to gain ‘Lebensraum’ (living space) for Germans, and his hatred of Jews, which led to the Holocaust
12.4 million copies were published in Germany till 1945, some of which are still in libraries