6 ms·

Germany sees 'overwhelming' sales of Hitler's Mein Kampf

24 points by rgbrgb 10y ago

tyingq 10y ago
The article covers the why...it's not terribly surprising. "While the Bavarian regional government held the copyright, reprinting of the book was banned. But the copyright expired a year ago." So, a book that was banned, is no longer banned, and... "Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is an expensive academic text, and is being bought by libraries, schools and history academics." Basically, not much to see here. Libraries and schools are buying a book they should probably have, for historical purposes. The swell in sales is because they couldn't buy it before now.
- ycmbntrthrwaway 10y ago
  Guess almost anyone who wants to actually read it just downloads the text.
  - bhaak 10y ago
    You can also easily buy it in second hand bookstores. Even in Germany. The book itself wasn't banned, only the reprinting was suppressed by copyright.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  Seemed like this wouldn't be enough buyers to make this many sales - so I did a brief search. There are about 54,000 schools in Germany and 6,000 libraries. There are plenty of buyers.
- Hydraulix989 10y ago
  Also from the article: > "For a German non-fiction book sales of 85,000 are not bad. But the figures don't indicate a runaway hit." > "The current biggest non-fiction seller is The Hidden Life of Trees, a book about the ecosystem of woodland, which has sold half a million copies so far." Okay, so it doesn't seem to me like that is evidence that there is some "overwhelming" revival of Nazi ideology after all, especially if most of the sales are academic.
digitalsurgeon 10y ago
aaah Germany, getting back to its true self.
- dang 10y ago
  We've banned this account for trolling. National slurs are not allowed on Hacker News. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com with an indication that you'll only post civilly and substantively in the future. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html
JDDunn9 10y ago
I just finished reading "Mein Kampf" last month. It's not very good. It's about 20% racist rants. He talks about some legitimate grievances German had at the time and from their history, and military strategy. I didn't walk away feeling like Hitler was brilliant or anything like I did with Trotsky after reading "Terrorism and Communism".
- Koshkin 10y ago
  Yeah, there are better books to spend your time on than those two...
  - unmole 10y ago
    I have a similar reaction when someone suggests Ayn Rand.
    - Grue3 10y ago
      Except, you know, Ayn Rand's writings haven't resulted in genocides and mass human rights violations.
      - soneil 10y ago
        You could make the same argument that this is why it should be read. Especially with the right being on the rise across the west, there's still much to be gained in understanding how the "average man" was led down this path "last time". "doomed to repeat it", etc.
    - LyndsySimon 10y ago
      I view Rand's work as being instrumental in the development of my worldview... and I can't recommend that most people read most of it. She was a terribly novelist, but wasn't really trying to be a great one. She was using the novel format as a scaffold to hang her ideology upon for easier access to the masses. She did that passably in "The Fountainhead", which is at least a decent story. She failed utterly in "Atlas Shrugged". If you're interested enough in Objectivism to read AS, I suggest you read "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" and "The Virtue of Selfishness". If you're still interested, AS provides additional insight and might be worth the slog.
hackuser 10y ago
> 'Not a runaway hit' ... That quote is followed by explanations why being #1 on the non-fiction best seller list isn't meaningful. Maybe not. But sane, non-extremist humans seem to have an unending desire for normalcy so strong that they delude themselves every time. They will grasp at it no matter how clear the signs. When Adolf Hitler himself ran Germany, he was supported by organized violent gangs, brutally suppressed the opposition, promoted and executed a program of vicious hatred and religious discrimination, built up an army, conquered multiple neighbors, and was an obvious psychopath ... could he make the signs more clear for everyone? ... yet UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was widely supported when he said could negotiate with this monster and obtain "peace in our time" - he really said that. Churchill, who called for opposing Hitler and preparing for war, was a political outcast. Leading Americans supported and did business with Hitler; the U.S. Congress blocked the President from supporting Hitler's victims and foes; boatloads of refugees from Hitler's terror were sent away from U.S. shores, many to their deaths. So I'm not comforted at all by these claims that it's not a big deal. Either people will confront the fearful reality and stand up and fight the reborn monstrosities of racism, nationalism, and other prejudice, or those monstrosities will continue to advance unhindered. If you wait to act until the evil people to announce they are evil and tell you their secret plan, like in the movies, you'll find yourself passively, quietly herded to whatever end they have in mind for you.
- mordant 10y ago
  Hitler told the world his 'secret plan', in advance, with Mein Kampf. And, unlike most politicians, he did his level best to fulfill the promises he made before coming to power. So, it's hard to escape the conclusion that a substantial proportion of the German people understood and supported his program, no matter how evil he was and it was.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    This isn't really true, unless that book from the 1920s spoke of some things generally. When the events were actually happening the late 1930s, multiple times Hitler said he was not interested in further conquests, promising normalcy and peace. Remember he signed a treaty with Chamberlain saying so, and also another with Molotov (which Hitler also violated). The Holocaust was hidden so effectively from the world that the Allied powers plausibly denied knowledge of it. Germans living in nearby towns denied knowledge of it. EDIT: Some edits to qualify statements that were too absolute
gumby 10y ago
85K sales in a country of 85M is not very interesting. I bought a copy in the US, basically because I could, and what a snoozer. I certainly didn't bother to finish it. Ditto The Communist Manifesto. 85K can easily constitute some institutional purchases (as others have commented in this thread) plus just some curious book readers ("What was all the fuss about anyway?"). I'm sure most libraries with a significant history collection had a copy already.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

24 points by rgbrgb 10y ago

The article covers the why...it's not terribly surprising. "While the Bavarian regional government held the copyright, reprinting of the book was banned. But the copyright expired a year ago." So, a book that was banned, is no longer banned, and... "Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is an expensive academic text, and is being bought by libraries, schools and history academics." Basically, not much to see here. Libraries and schools are buying a book they should probably have, for historical purposes. The swell in sales is because they couldn't buy it before now.

ycmbntrthrwaway 10y ago
Guess almost anyone who wants to actually read it just downloads the text.
- bhaak 10y ago
  You can also easily buy it in second hand bookstores. Even in Germany. The book itself wasn't banned, only the reprinting was suppressed by copyright.
lostlogin 10y ago
Seemed like this wouldn't be enough buyers to make this many sales - so I did a brief search. There are about 54,000 schools in Germany and 6,000 libraries. There are plenty of buyers.
Hydraulix989 10y ago
Also from the article: > "For a German non-fiction book sales of 85,000 are not bad. But the figures don't indicate a runaway hit." > "The current biggest non-fiction seller is The Hidden Life of Trees, a book about the ecosystem of woodland, which has sold half a million copies so far." Okay, so it doesn't seem to me like that is evidence that there is some "overwhelming" revival of Nazi ideology after all, especially if most of the sales are academic.

digitalsurgeon 10y ago

aaah Germany, getting back to its true self.

dang 10y ago
We've banned this account for trolling. National slurs are not allowed on Hacker News. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com with an indication that you'll only post civilly and substantively in the future. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

JDDunn9 10y ago

I just finished reading "Mein Kampf" last month. It's not very good. It's about 20% racist rants. He talks about some legitimate grievances German had at the time and from their history, and military strategy. I didn't walk away feeling like Hitler was brilliant or anything like I did with Trotsky after reading "Terrorism and Communism".

Koshkin 10y ago
Yeah, there are better books to spend your time on than those two...
- unmole 10y ago
  I have a similar reaction when someone suggests Ayn Rand.
  - Grue3 10y ago
    Except, you know, Ayn Rand's writings haven't resulted in genocides and mass human rights violations.
    - soneil 10y ago
      You could make the same argument that this is why it should be read. Especially with the right being on the rise across the west, there's still much to be gained in understanding how the "average man" was led down this path "last time". "doomed to repeat it", etc.
  - LyndsySimon 10y ago
    I view Rand's work as being instrumental in the development of my worldview... and I can't recommend that most people read most of it. She was a terribly novelist, but wasn't really trying to be a great one. She was using the novel format as a scaffold to hang her ideology upon for easier access to the masses. She did that passably in "The Fountainhead", which is at least a decent story. She failed utterly in "Atlas Shrugged". If you're interested enough in Objectivism to read AS, I suggest you read "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" and "The Virtue of Selfishness". If you're still interested, AS provides additional insight and might be worth the slog.

hackuser 10y ago

> 'Not a runaway hit' ... That quote is followed by explanations why being #1 on the non-fiction best seller list isn't meaningful. Maybe not. But sane, non-extremist humans seem to have an unending desire for normalcy so strong that they delude themselves every time. They will grasp at it no matter how clear the signs. When Adolf Hitler himself ran Germany, he was supported by organized violent gangs, brutally suppressed the opposition, promoted and executed a program of vicious hatred and religious discrimination, built up an army, conquered multiple neighbors, and was an obvious psychopath ... could he make the signs more clear for everyone? ... yet UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was widely supported when he said could negotiate with this monster and obtain "peace in our time" - he really said that. Churchill, who called for opposing Hitler and preparing for war, was a political outcast. Leading Americans supported and did business with Hitler; the U.S. Congress blocked the President from supporting Hitler's victims and foes; boatloads of refugees from Hitler's terror were sent away from U.S. shores, many to their deaths. So I'm not comforted at all by these claims that it's not a big deal. Either people will confront the fearful reality and stand up and fight the reborn monstrosities of racism, nationalism, and other prejudice, or those monstrosities will continue to advance unhindered. If you wait to act until the evil people to announce they are evil and tell you their secret plan, like in the movies, you'll find yourself passively, quietly herded to whatever end they have in mind for you.

mordant 10y ago
Hitler told the world his 'secret plan', in advance, with Mein Kampf. And, unlike most politicians, he did his level best to fulfill the promises he made before coming to power. So, it's hard to escape the conclusion that a substantial proportion of the German people understood and supported his program, no matter how evil he was and it was.
- hackuser 10y ago
  This isn't really true, unless that book from the 1920s spoke of some things generally. When the events were actually happening the late 1930s, multiple times Hitler said he was not interested in further conquests, promising normalcy and peace. Remember he signed a treaty with Chamberlain saying so, and also another with Molotov (which Hitler also violated). The Holocaust was hidden so effectively from the world that the Allied powers plausibly denied knowledge of it. Germans living in nearby towns denied knowledge of it. EDIT: Some edits to qualify statements that were too absolute

gumby 10y ago

85K sales in a country of 85M is not very interesting. I bought a copy in the US, basically because I could, and what a snoozer. I certainly didn't bother to finish it. Ditto The Communist Manifesto. 85K can easily constitute some institutional purchases (as others have commented in this thread) plus just some curious book readers ("What was all the fuss about anyway?"). I'm sure most libraries with a significant history collection had a copy already.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]