Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ a hit in Germany

Hitler’s newly republished manifesto has become a bestseller in Germany. 

An annotated edition of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler’s notorious manifesto, has become a non-fiction bestseller in Germany.

News agency dpa reported Tuesday that 85,000 copies of the book have been sold since it was first published a year ago. It has been printed in six editions so far.

The 1,948-page book – titled, Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition – was published by the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History, which spent years adding comments to Hitler’s original text in an effort to highlight his propaganda and mistakes.

Before the copyright on the book, held by Bavaria’s state finance ministry, expired at the end of 2015, the ministry had used it to prevent the publication of new editions in the country.

Despite its incendiary and anti-Semitic content, the book wasn’t banned in Germany and could be found online, in secondhand bookshops and in libraries.

While the publisher say Hitler’s book is being used to debunk his beliefs, some have opposed the lifting of the ban. World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald Lauder, for example, said an annotated edition of the book was “unnecessary.”

“Mein Kampf should have been properly studied 90 years ago,” Lauder stated. “Hitler’s lies should have been rebutted back then. Alas, we all know that because that didn’t happen, Hitler felt emboldened to embark on the biggest mass murder in the history of mankind. Hence it would be best to leave Mein Kampf where it belongs: the poison cabinet of history.”

German authorities have made it clear that they will not tolerate any new printing of Mein Kampf without annotations.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

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