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131-595: While the Nazi Party had existed since 1920, it did not initially set up its own social welfare department as several other German political parties had done. Nazi ideology was in principle unfavourable to the idea of social welfare. Writing in Mein Kampf about his time spent among the poor in Vienna , Hitler expressed indignation against social welfare for helping the degenerate and the feeble. The Nazis believed that

262-515: A "management strategy guide", sometimes "with comparison to Spencer Johnson 's Who Moved My Cheese ". In fact, due to demand from the Indian business students (which for them, was "inspiring"), there was a surge in its sales. J. Kuruvachira, Professor of Philosophy of Salesian College of Higher Education in Dimapur , Nagaland ; who in his words, had said, "It is a source of inspiration to

393-593: A Half Years [of Struggle] Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice ). Max Amann , head of the Franz Eher Verlag and Hitler's publisher, is said to have suggested the much shorter "Mein Kampf" ( "My Struggle" ). The arrangement of chapters is as follows: In Mein Kampf , Hitler used the main thesis of "the Jewish peril", which posits a Jewish conspiracy to gain world leadership . The narrative describes

524-605: A bestseller in Germany following Hitler's rise to power in 1933. After Hitler's death , copyright of Mein Kampf passed to the state government of Bavaria , which refused to allow any copying or printing of the book in Germany. In 2016, following the expiry of the copyright held by the Bavarian state government, Mein Kampf was republished in Germany for the first time since 1945, which prompted public debate and divided reactions from Jewish groups. A team of scholars from

655-556: A defendant had not helped put out a fire, thus showing a disregard for the life of his "Volksgenossen" and community. In support of this, Peukert quoted two articles from the projected "Law for the Treatment of Community Aliens" of 1944, which though never implemented owing to bureaucratic quarrels showed the intentions of Nazi social policy: Article I. Community Aliens ( Gemeinschaftsfremde ) 1. "Community Aliens" are such persons who: 1, Show themselves, in their personality or in

786-460: A good time,' Hitler has said to them, 'I offer you struggle, danger, and death,' and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet." Orwell's review was written in the aftermath of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , when Hitler made peace with the USSR after more than a decade of vitriolic rhetoric and threats between the two nations; with the pact in place, Orwell believed, England was now facing

917-459: A historical point of view and to put it in context." The annotated edition of Mein Kampf was published in Germany in January 2016 and sold out within hours on Amazon's German site. The two-volume edition included about 3,500 notes and was almost 2,000 pages long. Usually, according to Gerhard Weinberg , the information in the annotated edition that accompanies a chapter is mostly about when

1048-414: A leveling process which necessitates in turn a total control over the child and the adolescent. Every personal attitude will be branded — after communist pattern — as " bourgeois ", and this in spite of the fact that the bourgeois is the representative of the most herdist class in the world, and that National Socialism is a basically bourgeois movement. In Mein Kampf , Hitler repeatedly speaks of

1179-464: A national purpose, and the hope that national unity would "obliterate all conflicts - between employers and employees, town and countryside, producers and consumers, industry and craft". After Germany's defeat in World War I, the concept of Volksgemeinschaft remained popular especially on the right wing of German politics, in opposition to the class struggle advocated by Marxist parties like

1310-520: A people becoming itself. The Volk were not just a people; a mystical soul united them, and propaganda continually portrayed individuals as part of a great whole, worth dying for. A common Nazi mantra declared that ethnic Germans must put "collective need ahead of individual greed" and oppose class conflict, materialism, and profiteering in order to ensure the survival of the Volk —a widespread sentiment in this era. To exemplify and encourage such views, when

1441-661: A raid. In a court ruling against the publisher's operator, the distribution of the unabridged, uncommented version of Mein Kampf was classified as Incitement of masses in accordance with Section 130 of the German Criminal Code. As a result of the ruling, Mein Kampf was added to the List of Media Harmful to Young People by the Federal Agency for Child and Youth Protection in the Media . In Egypt ,

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1572-470: A republication was necessary to get an authoritative annotated edition by the time the copyright ran out, which might open the way for neo-Nazi groups to publish their own versions. The Bavarian Finance Ministry opposed the plan, citing respect for victims of the Holocaust . It stated that permits for reprints would not be issued, at home or abroad. This would also apply to a new annotated edition. There

1703-576: A risk of Nazi attack and the UK must not underestimate the appeal of Hitler's ideas. In his 1943 book The Menace of the Herd , Austrian scholar Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn described Hitler's ideas in Mein Kampf and elsewhere as "a veritable reductio ad absurdum of ' progressive ' thought" and betraying "a curious lack of original thought" that shows Hitler offered no innovative or original ideas but

1834-592: A run of 400 copies. The complete translation of the book in Hebrew was published by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1995. The translator was Dan Yaron, a Vienna-born retired teacher and Holocaust survivor. Volksgemeinschaft Volksgemeinschaft ( German pronunciation: [ˈfɔlksɡəˌmaɪnʃaft] ) is a German expression meaning "people's community", "folk community", "national community", or "racial community", depending on

1965-468: A slipcase with the seal of the province embossed in gold onto a parchment-like cover was given free to marrying couples. In 1940, the Tornister-Ausgabe , or Knapsack Edition, was released. This edition was a compact, but unabridged, version in a red cover and was released by the post office, available to be sent to loved ones fighting at the front. These three editions combined both volumes into

2096-549: A survey of Nazi membership too late; and that all of his own work on Hitler goes unmentioned in the bibliography. Ever since the early 1930s, the history of Mein Kampf in English has been complicated and an occasion for controversy. No fewer than four full translations were completed before 1945, as well as a number of extracts in newspapers, pamphlets, government documents and unpublished typescripts. Not all of these had official approval from his publishers, Eher Verlag . Since

2227-626: A true people's community. Failure to support the war was an anti-social act; this propaganda managed to bring arms production to a peak in 1944. Nazi legal theory divided all Germans into two categories, namely the Volksgenossen ("National Comrades") who belonged to the Volksgemeinschaft and the Gemeinschaftsfremde ("Community Aliens") who did not. In addition to the duties and responsibilities shared by those in

2358-403: A two-volume set during Hitler's rule and was available in soft cover and hardcover. The soft cover edition contained the original cover (as pictured at the top of this article). The hardcover edition had a leather spine with cloth-covered boards. The cover and spine contained an image of three brown oak leaves. Along with the rest of his wealth and property , Hitler left the rights to the book to

2489-562: A work on political theory . For example, Hitler announces his hatred of what he believed to be the world's two evils: communism and Judaism . In the book, Hitler blamed Germany's chief woes on the parliament of the Weimar Republic , the Jews, and Social Democrats , as well as Marxists , though he believed that Marxists, Social Democrats, and the parliament were all working for Jewish interests. He announced that he wanted to destroy

2620-631: Is a crime." Mannoni's comments are similar to those made by Ralph Manheim, who did the first English-language translation in 1943. Manheim wrote in the foreword to the edition "Where Hitler's formulations challenge the reader's credulity I have quoted the German original in the notes." This evaluation of the poor quality of Hitler's prose and his inability to express his opinions coherently was shared by William S. Schlamm, who reviewed Manheim's translation in The New York Times , writing that "there

2751-622: Is a notably controversial topic of debate for ethical and political reasons, and is made difficult by the ambiguous language employed by Hitler and the Nazis when talking about the Volksgemeinschaft . Final solution Parties In the aftermath of the November Revolution of 1918 that marked the end of the German Empire and the beginning of the Weimar Republic , there was strong animosity amongst many Germans towards

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2882-583: Is common in Nazi propaganda. An account, for instance, of a SA brawl depicted its leader as uncouth and therefore a simple, strong, and honest man of the people. Sturmabteilung speakers were used, in part, for the appeal of their folksy manner. One element of Horst Wessel 's life that was fictionalized out of the movie Hans Westmar was the willful provoking of violent conflicts with Communists; Westmar preaches class reconciliation, and his death unifies students and workers. These ideas were also propagandized to

3013-620: Is lawful as well, unless it is done in such a fashion as to "promote hatred or war." In particular, the unmodified edition is not covered by §86 StGB that forbids dissemination of means of propaganda of unconstitutional organizations, since it is a "pre-constitutional work" and as such cannot be opposed to the free and democratic basic order, according to a 1979 decision of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany . Most German libraries carry heavily commented and excerpted versions of Mein Kampf . In 2008, Stephan Kramer, secretary-general of

3144-430: Is the danger of charlatans and neo-Nazis appropriating this infamous book for themselves." On 12 December 2013, the Bavarian government cancelled its financial support for an annotated edition. IfZ, which was preparing the translation, announced that it intended to proceed with publication after the copyright expired. The IfZ scheduled an edition of Mein Kampf for release in 2016. Richard Verber, vice-president of

3275-512: Is what I believe in." Even Lal Krishna Advani , in his confinement during the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi , mentioned Mein Kampf in his prison diary. Also, in India, over the time with slow emergence of Adolf Hitler as a "role model" for aspiring business leaders and B-schools , it is considered as a "self-improvement book", "management guru ", "business strategy role model" and

3406-549: The Hitlerjugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel collected donations for Winterhilfswerk (Winter Relief), totals were not reported for any individuals, only what the branch raised. The Winterhilfswerk campaigns themselves acted as a ritual to generate public feeling. Organisations and institutions such as Hitlerjugend, Bund Deutscher Mädel, Winterhilfswerk, but also the Reich Labour Service and, above all,

3537-510: The Board of Deputies of British Jews , stated in 2015 that the board trusted the academic and educational value of republishing. "We would, of course, be very wary of any attempt to glorify Hitler or to belittle the Holocaust in any way," Verber declared to The Observer . "But this is not that. I do understand how some Jewish groups could be upset and nervous, but it seems it is being done from

3668-590: The Bund Deutscher Mädel were educated in the skills needed for domestic chores, nursing, and hygiene. In the early years of the Nazi regime, bonfires were made of school children's differently colored caps as symbolic of the abolition of class differences. But by the end of the 1930s, most Hitler Youth officials were recruited from wealthier families, and the use of differently colored sashes had returned to schools. Daily life in Nazi Germany

3799-469: The Central Council of Jews in Germany , not only recommended lifting the ban, but volunteered the help of his organization in editing and annotating the text, saying that it is time for the book to be made available to all online. After the copyright expired, Mein Kampf was reprinted and sold on a large scale by a right-wing extremist publisher. Several thousand copies were confiscated during

3930-481: The Commercial Court of France. Hitler's lawsuit succeeded in having all copies seized, the print broken up, and having an injunction against booksellers offering any copies. However, a large quantity of books had already been shipped and stayed available undercover by Sorlot. In 1938, Hitler licensed for France an authorized edition by Fayard , translated by François Dauture and Georges Blond , lacking

4061-498: The German Labour Front . It had 4.7 million members and 520,000 volunteer workers. Nazi Party members who were active in communal welfare professionally or as volunteers had to be NSV members. The NSV restricted its assistance from the very beginning to individuals of "Aryan descent" who met a range of conditions to be deemed worthy of support, officially stating that its aim was to promote "the living, healthy forces of

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4192-520: The Hindu nationalist BJP ", also said that "the book's popularity was due to political reasons", especially at railway stations and bookstores of New Delhi during the tenure of BJP under Narendra Modi since 2014 . Though, a few cite " pure iconophilia " prevalent in India as the reason for popularity of the book. An extract of Mein Kampf in Hebrew was first published in 1992 by Akadamon in

4323-541: The Institute of Contemporary History in Munich published a German language two-volume almost 2,000-page edition annotated with about 3,500 notes. This was followed in 2021 by a 1,000-page French edition based on the German annotated version, with about twice as much commentary as text. Hitler originally wanted to call his forthcoming book Viereinhalb Jahre (des Kampfes) gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit ( Four and

4454-614: The Reichstag fire was used to justify anti-Communist and anti-Semitic violence, Hitler himself spoke on a new life, honor, and unity in Germany. Similarly, the Night of the Long Knives was justified as a peril to the people so great that only decisive action would save them. Goebbels described Hitler after that event as suffering "tragic loneliness" and as a Siegfried forced to shed blood to preserve Germany. Devotion to this Volk

4585-797: The Social Democrats and the Communists . The German Conservative Party became the German National People's Party and the National Liberal Party reorganized itself into the German People's Party , with the new names intended partly as references to Volksgemeinschaft . The concept was notoriously embraced by the newly founded Nazi Party in the 1920s, and eventually became strongly associated with Nazism after Adolf Hitler's rise to power . In

4716-475: The Sturmabteilung , whose violent, rebellious and confrontational past had to be transformed into a community organization to be useful in a Germany where Nazis held official power. This unity was what justified Nazi propaganda; its pejorative connotation had sprung solely from its selfish use, and the Nazis' honorable goal, the unity of the German people, made it honorable for them. It also justified

4847-413: The Volk and to bring wholeness while accusing other politicians of tearing at German unity. Upon rising to power in 1933, the Nazis sought to gain support of various elements of society. Their concept of Volksgemeinschaft was racially unified and organized hierarchically. This involved a mystical unity, a form of racial soul uniting all Germans, including those living abroad. Nevertheless, this soul

4978-627: The Weimar Republic era as a common experience of the German nation and to argue for German unity to bring about renewal to end the crisis. It was invoked by the Jewish social anarchists Gustav Landauer (who was killed for his participation in the Bavarian Soviet Republic ) and Erich Mühsam (who died in Oranienburg concentration camp ) in articulating their vision of a peaceful, non-coercive mutualist society. However, it

5109-436: The parliamentary system completely, believing it to be corrupt in principle, as those who reach power are inherent opportunists . While historians dispute the exact date Hitler decided to exterminate the Jewish people , few place the decision before the mid-1930s. First published in 1925, Mein Kampf shows Hitler's personal grievances and his ambitions for creating a New Order . Hitler also wrote that The Protocols of

5240-845: The public domain in France. A new edition was published in 2017 by Fayard, now part of the Groupe Hachette , with a critical introduction, just as the edition published in 2018 in Germany by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte , the Institute of Contemporary History based in Munich . In 2021, a 1,000-page critical edition, based on the German edition of 2016, was published in France. Titled Historiciser le mal: Une édition critique de Mein Kampf ('Historicizing Evil: A Critical Edition of Mein Kampf'), with almost twice as much commentary as text, it

5371-621: The "masses" and the "herd" referring to the people. The German people should probably, in his view, remain a mass of identical "individuals" in an enormous sand heap or ant heap, identical even to the color of their shirts, the garment nearest to the body. In his The Second World War , published in several volumes in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Winston Churchill wrote that he felt that after Hitler's ascension to power, no other book than Mein Kampf deserved more intensive scrutiny. The critic George Steiner suggested that Mein Kampf can be seen as one of several books that resulted from

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5502-662: The "strong". Hitler described that, when he was in Vienna , it was repugnant for him to see the mixture of races "of Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Ruthenians , Serbs and Croats, and always that infection which dissolves human society, the Jew, were all here and there and everywhere." He also wrote that he viewed the Japanese victory over the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 as a "blow to Austrian Slavism ". In

5633-505: The Berlin party branches, and sought to expand it. Goebbels placed Erich Hilgenfeldt in charge of this association, after Hilgenfeldt had organized a successful charity drive to celebrate Adolf Hitler 's birthday on 20 April 1931. Two years later, after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, the NSV became established as the single Nazi Party welfare organ on 3 May 1933. On 21 September in

5764-467: The East, foreshadowing Generalplan Ost : And so we National Socialists consciously draw a line beneath the foreign policy tendency of our pre- War period. We take up where we broke off six hundred years ago. We stop the endless German movement to the south and west, and turn our gaze toward the land in the east. At long last we break off the colonial and commercial policy of the pre-War period and shift to

5895-551: The Elders of Zion , a fabricated text that purported to expose a Jewish plot to control the world, was an authentic document. This later became a part of the Nazi propaganda effort to justify persecution and annihilation of the Jews. The historian Ian Kershaw observed that several passages in Mein Kampf are undeniably of a genocidal nature. Hitler wrote "the nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all

6026-616: The Emperor Wilhelm II proclaimed before the Reichstag the Burgfrieden ("peace in the castle" or "truce in the castle", a kind of "unity within a besieged castle" for the duration of the conflict), announcing that henceforward all of the regional differences between the different states of the Reich ; between rich, middle class and poor; between Roman Catholics and Protestants; and between rural and urban no longer existed and

6157-472: The German language would turn them into Germans; he believed that would have caused a "foreign race" by its own "inferiority" to damage the "dignity" and "nobility" of the German nation. Although Hitler originally wrote Mein Kampf mostly for the followers of National Socialism, interest in the work grew after his rise to power. (Two other books written by party members, Gottfried Feder 's Breaking The Interest Slavery and Alfred Rosenberg 's The Myth of

6288-476: The German people were all one for the duration of the war. During the war, many Germans longed to have the sense of unity that the Burgfrieden inspired continue after the war, and it was during this period that many ideas started to circulate about how to convert the wartime Burgfrieden into a peacetime Volksgemeinschaft . In the aftermath of World War I, the idea of Volksgemeinschaft was used to interpret economic catastrophes and hardship facing Germans during

6419-555: The German people." The list of those excluded from NSV benefits was composed of "alcoholics, tramps, homosexuals, prostitutes, the 'work-shy' or the 'asocial', habitual criminals, the hereditarily ill (a widely defined category) and members of races other than the Aryan." Within these limitations, 17 million Germans received assistance under the auspices of NSV by 1939, and the agency operated 8,000 day-nurseries, funded holiday homes for mothers, distributed additional food for large families and

6550-427: The German race had to be strengthened through a process of natural selection, which required weeding out its weakest elements, so they condemned the goals of charity and philanthropy. They opposed the extensive welfare system of the Weimar Republic for being wasteful, bureaucratic, and helping the wrong people, since it distributed welfare benefits indiscriminately without regard for race and often assisted people that

6681-491: The German state. As Hitler's official place of residence was in Munich , the copyright passed to the government of Bavaria, which refused to allow it to be republished. The copyright ran out on 31 December 2015. On 3 February 2010, the Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich announced plans to republish an annotated version of the text, for educational purposes in schools and universities, in 2015. The book had last been published in Germany in 1945. The IfZ argued that

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6812-643: The NSV's main activities was the Winter Relief of the German People ( Winterhilfswerk ), which coordinated an annual drive to collect charity for the poor to provide them with heating and food over the winter months. Goebbels claimed that this was neither state welfare nor charity, but rather a new type of "racial self-help run by the German people for the German people." The Winter Relief program officially relied on voluntary donations, but in practice those donations were often collected by armed members of

6943-488: The Nazi Volksgemeinschaft served only as a symbolic unity, while real differences of status and wealth continued to dominate daily life. The Nazis disparaged sophisticated forms of address such as gnädige Frau ("gracious lady") and the associated practice of kissing a lady's hand, but Hitler was routinely shown engaging in that same practice in press photographs. Old titles of nobility were shunned, but

7074-609: The Nazi Party going door to door in uniform, or by Hitler Youth members who were keeping lists of who had or had not contributed. A law was passed in 1934 that allowed the Interior Minister and the Nazi Party Treasurer to suspend any charities that competed with the Winterhilfswerk ; this was used to force the other charities to limit their collection drives to the summer months. In 1939, the NSV

7205-408: The Nazi Party hierarchy created numerous new titles. Elegant evening dress and other public displays of wealth were sometimes derided and sometimes encouraged. The Nazi Party claimed to administer justice impartially to all ethnic Germans regardless of their social origins, and Nazi propaganda emphasized instances where upper class individuals were found guilty by the courts as evidence of this, but at

7336-582: The Nazi Party. New social welfare organizations were established during the postwar reconstruction of both West and East Germany . Final solution Parties Mein Kampf Final solution Parties Mein Kampf ( German: [maɪn ˈkampf] ; lit.   ' My Struggle ' ) is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler . The book outlines many of Hitler's political beliefs , his political ideology and future plans for Germany and

7467-486: The Nazi party were portrayed as exemplifications and concrete manifestations of the "Volksgemeinschaft". Hitler declared that he knew nothing of bourgeois or proletarian, only Germans. Volksgemeinschaft was portrayed as overcoming distinctions of party and social class. The commonality this created across classes was among the great appeals of Nazism. After the failure of the Beer Hall Putsch , Hitler, in

7598-876: The Nazi seizure of power, there had been seven main charitable networks in Germany: two socialist welfare organizations (one run by the SPD and the other by the KPD ), the Christian workers' welfare association, the national Jewish charitable agency, the Roman Catholic Caritas , the Protestant Inner Mission , and the German Red Cross . The Nazis disbanded the socialist and Christian workers' associations and seized their assets, restricted

7729-485: The Nazi vision of Volksgemeinschaft , society would continue to be organized into classes (based upon talent, property, or profession), but there would be no class conflict, because a common national consciousness would inspire the different economic and social classes to live together harmoniously and work for the nation. There was also an important racial aspect to the Nazi Volksgemeinschaft : only "people of Aryan blood" could be members. The word "Volksgemeinschaft"

7860-527: The Nazis considered inferior. By the 1930s, however, the Great Depression had caused mass unemployment in Germany, and it had become politically untenable for the Nazis to write off the destitute as not worth helping. In 1931, Joseph Goebbels , the Gauleiter (regional Nazi Party leader) of Berlin, realized the propaganda potential of a small Nazi People's Welfare Association founded by one of

7991-447: The Twentieth Century , have since lapsed into comparative literary obscurity.) Hitler had made about 1.2 million  ℛ︁ℳ︁ from the income of the book by 1933 (equivalent to €5,562,590 in 2021), when the average annual income of a teacher was about 4,800 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (equivalent to €22,250 in 2021). He accumulated a tax debt of 405,500  ℛ︁ℳ︁ (equivalent to €1,879,692 in 2021) from

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8122-479: The Weimar Republic and the social democrats who sponsored its creation. This was combined with anxiety in the 1930s and with the severe economic crisis in Germany and abroad, in which many Germans faced unemployment. This situation resulted in increasing popularity for the Nazi Party, including amongst workers, small business owners, and others who desired a government that would resolve the economic crisis. While ascending to power, Hitler promised to restore faith in

8253-440: The activities of the Jewish agency to helping ethnic Jews, and sought to "coordinate" the remaining three agencies under the control of the NSV. The non-Nazi charities were forced to accept the principles of eugenics and refrain from helping those deemed biologically unfit, while the German Red Cross was compelled to appoint Nazis to prominent positions. The NSV was the second largest Nazi group organization by 1935, second only to

8384-403: The book was first translated into Arabic in 1937. It had a new translation in 1963 which was reprinted in 1995. The book was also displayed for sale in Cairo 's state-run book fairs in 2007, 2021, and 2023. The Nazi group Finnish People's Organisation had circulated an unofficial translation since at least 1934. One of Finland's largest publishing companies, Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö ,

8515-454: The book, were "little more than commonplace clichés". The American literary theorist and philosopher Kenneth Burke wrote a 1939 rhetorical analysis of the work, The Rhetoric of Hitler's "Battle" , which revealed an underlying message of aggressive intent. The American journalist John Gunther said in 1940 that compared to autobiographies such as Leon Trotsky 's My Life or Henry Adams 's The Education of Henry Adams , Mein Kampf

8646-411: The book. As he continued, he realized that it would have to be a two-volume work, with the first volume scheduled for release in early 1925. The governor of Landsberg noted at the time that "he [Hitler] hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and to defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial." After slow initial sales, the book became

8777-436: The book. Dussmann, a Berlin bookstore, stated that one copy was available on the shelves in the history section, but that it would not be advertised, and more copies would be available only on order. By January 2017, the German annotated edition had sold over 85,000 copies. Gerhard Weinberg wrote a generally positive review of the annotated edition, praising the choice to include not only editors' comments but also changes of

8908-401: The book." Nevertheless, Mein Kampf was a bestseller in Germany during the 1930s. During Hitler's years in power, the book was in high demand in libraries and often reviewed and quoted in other publications. It was given free to every newlywed couple and every soldier fighting at the front. By 1939, it had sold 5.2 million copies in eleven languages. Mein Kampf , in essence, lays out

9039-399: The celebrations, and Hitler spoke of workers as patriots who had built Germany's industrial strength and had honourably served in the war, while claiming that they had been oppressed under economic liberalism . Hitler praised the virtues of labor, and was quoted in the Völkischer Beobachter as declaring that "I only acknowledge one nobility—that of labour." The event proved convincing, as

9170-516: The chapter "Eastern Orientation or Eastern Policy", Hitler argued that the Germans needed Lebensraum in the East, a "historic destiny" that would properly nurture the German people. Hitler believed that "the organization of a Russian state formation was not the result of the political abilities of the Slavs in Russia, but only a wonderful example of the state-forming efficacy of the German element in an inferior race." In Mein Kampf , Hitler openly described his proposed future German expansion in

9301-475: The chapter was written, though "in some cases" there is commentary on the nature and argument of the chapter. The book's publication led to public debate in Germany, and divided reactions from Jewish groups, with some supporting, and others opposing, the decision to publish. German officials had previously said they would limit public access to the text amid fears that its republication could stir neo-Nazi sentiment. Some bookstores stated that they would not stock

9432-494: The community, the National Comrades were expected to build and create a " Volksgeist " (" Volk spirit") that would encompass the best aspects of the German people. As such, community aliens could not belong, since they were deemed an undermining element in the very foundations of the "Volksgemeinschaft". The modern German historian Detlev Peukert wrote the following about the purpose of Nazi social policy: The goal

9563-665: The conduct of their life, and especially in light of any unusual deficiency of mind or character, unable to comply by their own efforts with the minimum requirements of the national community. 2.(a) owing to work-shyness or slovenliness, lead a worthless, unthrifty or disorderly life and are thereby a burden or danger to the community: Or Display a habit of, or inclination towards beggary or vagrancy, idling at work, larceny, swindling or other less seriously offences, or engage in excessive drunkenness, or for any such reasons are in breach of their obligation to support themselves. Or (b) through persistent ill-temper or quarrelsomeness disturb

9694-540: The confiscation of Jewish assets were used to provide the necessary subsidies for the NSV during the war, especially after 1941. In 1945, after Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II , the Allied Military Government issued a special law outlawing the Nazi Party and all of its branches. Known as Law number five , this denazification decree disbanded the NSV, like all organizations linked to

9825-705: The crisis of German culture following Germany's defeat in World War I , comparable in this respect to the philosopher Ernst Bloch 's The Spirit of Utopia (1918), the historian Oswald Spengler 's The Decline of the West (1918), the theologian Franz Rosenzweig 's The Star of Redemption (1921), the theologian Karl Barth 's The Epistle to the Romans (1922), and the philosopher Martin Heidegger 's Being and Time (1927). A number of translators have commented on

9956-430: The federal government of Germany, refused to allow any copying or printing of the book in Germany. It also opposed copying and printing in other countries, but with less success. Under German copyright law , the entire text entered the public domain on 1 January 2016, upon the expiration of the calendar year 70 years after the author's death. Owning and buying the book in Germany is not an offence. Trading in old copies

10087-427: The force of Hitler's personality shone through the often "clumsy" writing, capturing the magnetic allure of Hitler for many Germans. In essence, Orwell notes, Hitler offers only visions of endless struggle and conflict in the creation of "a horrible brainless empire" that "stretch[es] to Afghanistan or thereabouts". He wrote, "Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people 'I offer you

10218-441: The growing of Holocaust denial works, placed the Mein Kampf under judicial watch and in 1978, LICRA entered a complaint in the courts against the publisher for inciting antisemitism . Sorlot received a "substantial fine" but the court also granted him the right to continue publishing the work, provided certain warnings and qualifiers accompany the text. On 1 January 2016, 70 years after Hitler's death, Mein Kampf entered

10349-403: The historical effect of Nazism upon Europe during World War II and the Holocaust, it is considered a highly controversial book. Criticism has not come solely from opponents of Nazism. Italian fascist dictator and Nazi ally Benito Mussolini was also critical of the book, saying that it was "a boring tome that I have never been able to read" and remarking that Hitler's beliefs, as expressed in

10480-477: The home-front during World War II, with the war uniting all levels of society, as in the two most popular films of the Nazi era, Die grosse Liebe and Wunschkonzert . The Request Concert radio show, on which the latter film was based, achieved great popularity by broadcasting music claimed to be requested by men in the armed forces. Attempts to get women of "better classes" to take factory jobs were presented as breaking down class barriers and so helping create

10611-522: The ideological program Hitler established for the Holocaust , by identifying the Jews and "Bolsheviks" as racially and ideologically inferior and threatening, and "Aryans" and National Socialists as racially superior and politically progressive. Hitler's revolutionary goals included expulsion of the Jews from Greater Germany and the unification of German peoples into one Greater Germany. Hitler desired to restore German lands to their greatest historical extent, real or imagined. Due to its racist content and

10742-620: The largest civic organization in Nazi Germany . Successful efforts were made to get middle-class women involved in social work assisting large families. The Winter Relief campaigns acted as a ritual to generate public feeling. These efforts also served to reinforce the racial ideology of the Nazis and the idea that the Volksgemeinschaft was a racial community, because Jews and other non-Aryans were excluded from social welfare benefits, as were Germans who opposed Nazism or who were deemed "unfit" for other reasons. The Volksgemeinschaft

10873-511: The neo-Nazi group Nordic Resistance Movement has published new editions of the 1941 translations of Mein Kampf , and it has been sold in department stores in Finland. In 1934, the French government unofficially sponsored the publication of an unauthorized translation. It was meant as a warning and included a critical introduction by Marshal Lyautey ("Every Frenchman must read this book"). It

11004-479: The next day the Berliner Morgenpost , a newspaper which had been associated with the political left in the past, praised the regime's May Day celebrations. At the same time, however, the Nazis sought to destroy independent working class organizations, seeing them as incompatible with the trans-class unity of the Volksgemeinschaft . On 2 May 1933, one day after the celebrations, the trade union movement

11135-483: The one-party state as all that was needed in a society with a united will, where Hitler implemented the will of the Volk more directly than in a democracy. Attacks on Great Britain as a plutocracy also emphasized how the German, being able to participate in his Volk , is freer than the Briton. In his pamphlet State, Volk and Movement , Carl Schmitt praised the expulsion of Jews from political life without ever using

11266-564: The only way to avoid a repeat of the disaster of 1918 was to secure workers' support for the German government. The regime also insisted through propaganda that all Germans take part in the May Day celebrations, not just workers, in the hope that this would help break down class hostility between workers and burghers . Songs in praise of labour and workers were played by state radio throughout May Day 1933, as well as an airshow in Berlin and fireworks. The Nazis added strongly nationalist themes to

11397-457: The original text. He said that notes such as those of chapters eight and nine "will be extremely helpful" about the situation in the time of Hitler's entry into politics and lauded the notes to chapter 11 ("People and Race") as "extensive and very helpful" as well. On the negative side, Weinberg observed that the editors make a false correction at one point; that they miss an informative book on German atrocities during World War I ; that they include

11528-411: The outbreak of war, more than doubling in three budgetary years from 640.4 million Reichsmarks in 1938 to 1.395 billion Reichsmarks by 1941. The Nazi government did not wish to increase taxes on German citizens to pay for the NSV's expenses, so an alternative solution was found: theft of benefits and wages from forced laborers and the populations of conquered territories. The forced labor of non-Germans and

11659-460: The peace of the community; 3. show themselves, in their personality or the conduct of their life, mentally disposed towards the commission of serious offences (community-hostile criminals [ gemeinschaftsfeindliche Verbrecher ]) and criminals by inclination [ Neigungsverbrecher ]). Article II Police Measures Against Community Aliens 2. 1. Community aliens should be subject towards police supervision. 2. If supervisory measures are insufficient,

11790-464: The physically disabled, hard-of-hearing, deaf, mute, and blind; relief for the elderly, homeless and alcoholics; and the fight against illicit drugs and epidemics." Another branch, the Office of Youth Relief, which had 30,000 offices by 1941, took the job of supervising "social workers, corrective training, mediation assistance" and dealing with judicial authorities to prevent juvenile delinquency. One of

11921-482: The police shall transfer the community aliens to the Gau (or Land ) welfare authorities. 3. If, in the case of any community alien persons, a stricter degree of custody is required than is possible within the institutions of the Gau (or Land ) welfare authorities, the police shall place them in a police camp." In their desire to establish a total state, the Nazis understood the importance of “selling” their ideology to

12052-467: The poor quality of Hitler's use of language in writing Mein Kampf . Olivier Mannoni, who translated the 2021 French critical edition, said about the original German text that it was "An incoherent soup, one could become half-mad translating it," and said that previous translations had corrected the language, giving the false impression that Hitler was a "cultured man" with "coherent and grammatically correct reasoning". He added "To me, making this text elegant

12183-408: The positive struggle for the soul of our people, their international poisoners are exterminated", and he suggested that, "If at the beginning of the war and during the war twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the nation had been subjected to poison gas, such as had to be endured in the field by hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers of all classes and professions, then

12314-566: The process by which he became increasingly antisemitic and militaristic , especially during his years in Vienna. He speaks of not having met a Jew until he arrived in Vienna, and that at first his attitude was liberal and tolerant. When he first encountered the antisemitic press, he says, he dismissed it as unworthy of serious consideration. Later he accepted the same antisemitic views, which became crucial to his program of national reconstruction of Germany. Mein Kampf has also been studied as

12445-520: The racial and ideological goals of the Nazi state. The Nazi government declared that in the future, welfare and charitable aid would be granted only to individuals who were "racially superior" and could prove their value to the Volksgemeinschaft . The criteria for receiving aid were both racial and political, as individuals could be denied assistance for being Jewish and also for being Communists, Social Democrats, or other political opponents of

12576-444: The regime. The NSV sought to apply these principles to all areas of public and private assistance and charitable work, by extending its competence and control as broadly as possible. Thus, for example, one of the NSV branches, the Office of Institutional and Special Welfare, asserted its authority over all activities related to "travellers' aid at railway stations; relief for ex-convicts; support for re-migrants from abroad; assistance for

12707-429: The sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain." The racial laws to which Hitler referred resonate directly with his ideas in Mein Kampf . In the first edition, Hitler stated that the destruction of the weak and sick is far more humane than their protection. Apart from this allusion to humane treatment, Hitler saw a purpose in destroying "the weak" in order to provide the proper space and purity for

12838-534: The sale of about 240,000 copies before he became chancellor in 1933 (at which time his debt was waived). Hitler began to distance himself from the book after becoming chancellor of Germany in 1933. He dismissed it as "fantasies behind bars" that were little more than a series of articles for the Völkischer Beobachter , and later told Hans Frank that "If I had had any idea in 1924 that I would have become Reich chancellor, I never would have written

12969-489: The same book. A special edition was published in 1939 in honour of Hitler's 50th birthday. This edition was known as the Jubiläumsausgabe , or Anniversary Issue. It came in both dark blue and bright red boards with a gold sword on the cover. This work contained both volumes one and two. It was considered a deluxe version, relative to the smaller and more common Volksausgabe . The book could also be purchased as

13100-402: The same time the Nazi Party provided many opportunities for corruption and vested interests among its members. On one occasion the arrest of a Reichsbank director was widely publicized by the Nazi press, while his subsequent release was never mentioned. Nazis gave a great deal of prominence to this new "folk community" in their propaganda, depicting the events of 1933 as a Volkwerdung , or

13231-594: The same year, Hilgenfeldt was appointed as Reich Commissioner for the Winterhilfswerk (Winter Support Programme). Hitler directed Hilgenfeldt to "see to the disbanding of all private welfare institutions" and to "take charge of the Caritas organisation and the Inner Mission," so as to exclude Jews, non-Germans, opponents of the Nazi regime, and other "racially inferior" persons from receiving aid. Before

13362-531: The soil policy of the future. If we speak of soil in Europe today, we can primarily have in mind only Russia and her vassal border states. Hitler wrote that he was against any attempts to Germanise Slavs and criticised the previous attempts at trying to Germanise the Austrian Slavs. He also criticised people in pan-German movements in Germany who thought that forcing ethnic Poles living in Germany to speak

13493-411: The term "Jew" and using "non-Aryan" only rarely, by praising the homogeneity of the people and the Volksgemeinschaft ensuing; merely Gleichschaltung was not sufficient, but Nazi principles must continue to make the German people pure. Even Carl Jung 's "collective unconscious" was preferred to Freudian concepts because of its communal element. The Volksgemeinschaft was also depicted in films on

13624-429: The threatening tone against France of the original. The French edition was 347 pages long, while the original title was 687 pages, and it was titled Ma doctrine ("My doctrine "). After the war, Fernand Sorlot re-edited, re-issued, and continued to sell the work, without permission from the state of Bavaria , to which the author's rights had defaulted. In the 1970s, the rise of the extreme right in France along with

13755-439: The translation of its component term Volk ( cognate with the English word "folk"). This expression originally became popular during World War I as Germans rallied in support of the war, and many experienced "relief that at one fell swoop all social and political divisions could be solved in the great national equation". The idea of a Volksgemeinschaft was rooted in the notion of uniting people across class divides to achieve

13886-459: The trial, omitted his usual pre-putsch anti-Semitism and centered his defense on his selfless devotion to the good of the Volk and the need for bold action to save them. The Versailles settlement had betrayed Germany, which they had tried to save. Thereafter, his speeches concentrated on his boundless devotion to the Volk , though not entirely eliminating the anti-Semitism. Even once in power, his immediate speeches spoke of serving Germany. While

14017-575: The war dead. Most importantly, the Hitler Youth did their utmost to indoctrinate the youth of Germany with the ideological values of Nazism. Youth leaders bore into the youth a sense of fervent patriotism and utter devotion to Hitler, including military training so as to be ready to join the Wehrmacht . By 1939, when membership in the Hitler Youth became compulsory, each new member of the Jungvolk

14148-401: The war, the 1943 Ralph Manheim translation has been the most commonly published translation, though other versions have continued to circulate. At the time of his suicide, Hitler's official place of residence was in Munich , which led to his entire estate, including all rights to Mein Kampf , changing to the ownership of the state of Bavaria . The government of Bavaria, in agreement with

14279-562: The world. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. The book was edited first by Emil Maurice , then by Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess . Hitler began Mein Kampf while imprisoned following his failed coup in Munich in November 1923 and a trial in February 1924 for high treason , in which he received a sentence of five years. Although he received many visitors initially, he soon devoted himself entirely to

14410-698: The youth. To accomplish this, Hitler established Nazi youth groups. Young boys from 6–10 years old participated in the Pimpfen , similar to the cub scouts . Boys from 10–14 years old participated in the Deutsches Jungvolk , and boys 14–18 years old participated in the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth). The two older groups fostered military values and virtues, such as duty, obedience, honor, courage, strength, and ruthlessness. Uniforms and regular military drills were supplemented by ceremonies honoring

14541-493: Was "vapid, vain, rhetorical, diffuse, prolix." However, he added that "it is a powerful and moving book, the product of great passionate feeling". He suggested that the book exhausted curious German readers, but its "ceaseless repetition of the argument, left impregnably in their minds, fecund and germinating". In March 1940, British writer George Orwell reviewed a then-recently published uncensored translation of Mein Kampf for The New English Weekly . Orwell suggested that

14672-485: Was also involved in the distribution of soup to the citizens of Warsaw after the city's surrender . Jews were excluded from the effort, which focused on the propaganda value. During World War II , the NSV took over more and more governmental responsibilities, especially in the fields of child and youth labor. The NSV budget routinely ran a deficit and had to be subsidized with funds from the central government, and these subsidies increased significantly just before and after

14803-421: Was an utopian Volksgemeinschaft , totally under police surveillance, in which any attempt at nonconformist behaviour, or even any hint or intention of such behaviour, would be visited with terror. Criminals, if deemed unable to be part of the people's community, were severely punished, even executed for crimes that did not provide for the death penalty, such as doubling the sentence the prosecution asked for when

14934-688: Was banned, and "stormtroopers sealed off and took over the operations of the socialist Free Trade Unions and incorporated them into what became the German Labor Front". The Nazis continued social welfare policies initiated by the governments of the Weimar Republic and mobilized volunteers to assist those impoverished, "racially-worthy" Germans through the National Socialist People's Welfare organization. This organization oversaw charitable activities, and became

15065-510: Was considered a war hero of World War I in Germany. On 21 March 1933, special celebrations were held to mark the re-opening of the Reichstag following the Reichstag fire , and the Nazis called this event Potsdam Day . Potsdam Day was used to celebrate military tradition, the Hohenzollern dynasty of Prussia , the sacrifices of World War I and the "hero of Tannenberg," President Hindenburg. The image of Hitler and Hindenburg shaking hands

15196-542: Was disagreement about the issue of whether the republished book might be banned as Nazi propaganda. The Bavarian government emphasized that even after expiration of the copyright, "the dissemination of Nazi ideologies will remain prohibited in Germany and is punishable under the penal code". However, the Bavarian Science Minister Wolfgang Heubisch supported a critical edition, stating in 2010: "Once Bavaria's copyright expires, there

15327-824: Was edited by Florent Brayard and Andraes Wirsching, translated by Olivier Mannoni, and published by Fayard. The print run was deliberately kept small at 10,000 available only by special order, with copies set aside for public libraries. Proceeds from the sale of the edition are earmarked for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation . Some critics who had objected in advance to the edition's publication had fewer objections upon publication. One historian noted that there were so many annotations that Hitler's text had become "secondary." Since its first publication in India in 1928, Mein Kampf has gone through hundreds of editions and sold over 100,000 copies. Mein Kampf

15458-589: Was granted publishing rights to Mein Kampf after the Winter War in 1940 and Lauri Hirvensalo was approved as a translator by a German publishing house after WSOY confirmed his "Aryan" ancestry. In 1941–1944, 32,000 copies of the book were sold, a large number in Finland and professor Veikko Antero Koskenniemi wrote a glowing review of the book for Uusi Suomi newspaper. In the 2020s, the Kielletyt Kirjat ('Banned Books') publishing company, linked to

15589-492: Was intended to create a sense of uniformity amongst its members; Fritz Reinhardt, state secretary for the finance ministry, introduced numerous tax breaks for lower and middle class Germans, narrowed pension gaps between blue and white collar workers, and lowered the entrance standards for civil service exams. The ubiquitous uniforms within Nazi organisations were intended to suppress visible class differences in dress and create an image of unity. Between 1933 and 1939, upward mobility

15720-446: Was involved with a wide variety of other facilities. It "projected a powerful image of caring and support" for those who were seen as full members of the German racial community, while also inspiring fear through its intrusive questioning and the threat of opening a Gestapo investigation on those who did not fulfill the criteria for support. Under the NSV, German social welfare and voluntary charity were thoroughly restructured to follow

15851-453: Was merely "a virtuoso of commonplaces which he may or may not repeat in the guise of a 'new discovery. ' " Hitler's stated aim, Kuehnelt-Leddihn writes, is to quash individualism in furtherance of political goals: When Hitler and Mussolini attack the "western democracies" they insinuate that their "democracy" is not genuine. National Socialism envisages abolishing the difference in wealth, education, intellect, taste, philosophy, and habits by

15982-472: Was not the faintest similarity to a thought and barely a trace of language." While Hitler was in power (1933–1945), Mein Kampf came to be available in three common editions. The first, the Volksausgabe or People's Edition, featured the original cover on the dust jacket and was navy blue underneath with a gold swastika eagle embossed on the cover. The Hochzeitsausgabe , or Wedding Edition, in

16113-475: Was perhaps Ferdinand Tönnies ' theory in his work Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft ("Community and Society") of 1887. Decades later, in 1932, Tönnies joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany to oppose the rise of Nazism and protest against their use of his concept. He had his honorary professorship removed when Adolf Hitler came to power . In 1914, at the beginning of World War I,

16244-510: Was probably first used in Gottlob August Tittel 's 1791 translation of a text written by John Locke , synthesising the expression "in any [particular] place, generally". Among 19th century scholars who used the word "Volksgemeinschaft" were Friedrich Schleiermacher , Friedrich Carl von Savigny , Carl Theodor Welcker , Johann Caspar Bluntschli , Hermann Schulze , Wilhelm Dilthey , and Wilhelm Wundt . Most influential

16375-408: Was published by far-right publisher Fernand Sorlot in an agreement with the activists of LICRA who bought 5,000 copies to be offered to "influential people"; however, most of them treated the book as a casual gift and did not read it. The Nazi regime unsuccessfully tried to have it forbidden. Hitler, as the author, and Eher-Verlag , his German publisher, had to sue for copyright infringement in

16506-439: Was regarded as related to the land, in the doctrine of " blood and soil ". Indeed, one reason for "blood and soil" was the belief that landowner and peasant lived in an organic harmony. Aryan Germans who had sexual relations with non-Germanics were excluded from the people's community. The Nazis solidified support amongst nationalists and conservatives by presenting themselves as allied with President Paul von Hindenburg , who

16637-509: Was reproduced on thousands of postcards, representing "the union of the new and old Germany," a way for the Nazis to portray themselves as connected to the aristocratic traditions of the past. Having organized Potsdam Day to gain conservative support, the Nazis sought to gain the support of workers by declaring May Day , a day celebrated by organized labour , to be a paid holiday named the "Day of National Work" and held celebrations on 1 May 1933 to honour German workers. The regime believed that

16768-636: Was required to take an oath to the Führer swearing total allegiance. Young girls were also a part of the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany. Girls from 10 to 14 years old were members of the Jungmädelbund , while girls fourteen to eighteen belonged to the Bund Deutscher Mädel . Hitler youth girls were instructed in the principles of service, regimentation, obedience, and discipline. Girls were taught to be dutiful wives and mothers. Members of

16899-544: Was subsequently adopted by the Nazi Party to justify actions against Jews , profiteers , Marxists , and the Allies of World War I , whom the Nazis accused of obstructing German national regeneration, causing national disintegration in 1918 and Germany's defeat in World War I. There is an ongoing debate among historians as to whether a Volksgemeinschaft was or was not successfully established between 1933 and 1945. This

17030-461: Was translated into various Indian languages such as Hindi , Gujarati , Malayalam , Tamil , Marathi and Bengali . Commenting on it, Balasaheb Thackeray in 1992 (weeks before the Mumbai riots ) and allegedly Veer Savarkar in 1949 (four years after defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II ) said, "If you take Mein Kampf and if you remove the word ' Jew ' and put in the word ' Muslim ', that

17161-539: Was twice as likely as between 1927 and 1933. The Second World War assisted in this, as social status and class did not affect whether one received Reich services. Wartime rationing was implemented in an egalitarian manner, which greatly pleased the working class – a secret wartime report by the Social Democrats stated that "the working classes thoroughly welcome the fact that 'the better off' have, in practical terms, ceased to be that." Nevertheless, in many ways

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