For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this work, Mein Kampf was the blueprint that Hitler used to exterminate six million Jews (and millions of others in the Holocaust). Adolf Hitler wrote the first draft in 1924 and by the time he died 21 years later, it had sold 10 million copies. The state of Bavaria is the legal copyright holder for Mein Kampf, and it has refused to allow its republication. But its copyright expires in 2015 and with that expiration anyone can republish it.
Perhaps it can be said that if anyone in the 1920's had taken the time to actually read it and taken it seriously, they would have seen the plans for Hitler's Reich and acted to stop it. So maybe by making it widely available and starting a discussion about it in the universities and schools of the world that enough can be learned to prevent the Holocaust from ever happening again. After all, no one ever became wiser by not reading something. But what is there really to learn from reading Mein Kampf? Other than the idea that if the conditions are right, any group of people will gladly follow a monster that promises paradise?
So I ask you, are some books too dangerous to reprint? It can be said that there's nothing quite as insidious as an idea when it becomes entrenched in the mind of the true believer.
There are probably plenty of illegal copies around there. Certainly books like this are better left out of people's hands because it would be too easy for some impressionable kid to read it and decide to start killing the "impure."
ReplyDeleteBoth points you make are valid, but I think that's one book that should be forgotten. Can you imagine if it was required reading in your college class? And yes, what if some unstable kid took it to heart?
ReplyDeleteInteresting that this book is not being published. I just checked and the entire text is online for anyone to read. The answer to your question is---no, there are no books too evil to print. But I sometimes think there should be---the Bible! The Quran!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's nothing in there that hasn't been said by plenty of others and probably said better. Hitler's book just happens to be famous.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to side on the side of no censorship. If you make it hard to get, then people will only work that much harder to get it. That's not to say that I think it should be out there, but it is out there, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't know...
I'm going to second what Pat Dilloway said. I wouldn't want to see it republished, but then those who are the type who would follow through with such plans are probably the same type that know how to pick up a pirated copy.
ReplyDeleteI probably watch too much crime drama, but giving Hitler's work prominence by reprinting and making a big to-do about it will lure out all the people who believe that some of us shouldn't breathe the same air as them.
ReplyDeleteI think it's so amazing how strong some ideas can be. I don't know, it sounds crazy to make books and ideas illegal, but it was Hitler after all. You've got me torn on whether it should be reprinted or not.
ReplyDeleteAs the others said..if people really want it they can get it. But I think the really sick part of this is that the only reason it would be reprinted is that someone wants to make money off it. Nobody should make money from it.
ReplyDeleteGermany has some very stern laws against their World War II past. I'm not surprised that Bavaria is doing such.
ReplyDeleteIn Germany it was Mein Kampf that helped to spread evil, in this country it's books like Ayn Rand's silly novels or The Turner Diaries. Elsewhere it's The Elders of Zion. Repression and censorship would only drive such publications underground and make them forbidden fruit, while education about them would enlighten some or perhaps many people to reject their teachings. But there will always be sociopaths and damaged individuals who adopt what such books teach and act on them. So I don't think there's an easy answer to your question.
ReplyDeleteI know the bookstore chain I worked at sold this book, so I have no idea how it could be out of print and/or suppressed and being published at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough one. There's an argument to be made about not reprinting it, about taking away that power from Hitler, even though he's dead.
ReplyDeleteBut there's an argument to be made to read it and remember exactly what kind of monster he was.
I don't really know where i fall on those sides.
It absolutely should be allowed to be reprinted. Once you start limiting books where do you stop? There are many that would prefer kids not read Tom Sawyer because it includes a word that reminds Americans of its own dark past. Where is the line?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, we should print it so we can better understand the mindset that led to the Nazi party. I'd go as far as to say not printing would dishonor the memory of the fallen as future historians would be missing a piece of their puzzle.
There will always be hate speech. Anyone that reads Youtube comments sees it first hand. Mein Kampf was hate speech that led to an overthrow of a government and it needs to be studied. Hitler burned books and we are better than that.
I am not a book banner, but some types aren't allowed, like child porn. I've been very happy to go through my years without hearing about Hitler's recent book sales. It's going to be ugly.
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