Hitler Book More Sought After Than Ever
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Flying off the shelves in Turkey
80 years after publication, Hitler's "Mein Kampf" -- widely seen as the main source of Nazi ideology -- has been ruffling feathers all over Europe in recent months. In Turkey, it's even become a surprise best-seller.
Adolf Hitler's infamous -- and notoriously badly-written --autobiography has sold more than 50,000 copies in Turkey since January, and is currently number four on the best-seller list drawn up by the D&R bookstore chain.
"'Mein Kampf' has always been a sleeper, a secret best-seller," said Oguz Tektas of Mefisto editions, one of several publishing houses to re-release the book Hitler wrote while in jail in 1925. "We took it out of the closet for purely commercial reasons."
His company's sole aim, he stressed, was "to make money," which they did -- by slashing the cover price.
"Mein Kampf," published by about a dozen companies over the years, always sold at a fairly steady annual rate of about 20,000 at some 20 New Turkish Lira (11.3 euros or $15) a copy. The Mefisto edition retails at 3.3 euros ($4.5) and sold 23,000 copies in two months.
Turkish nationalism
The readership? "Those who want to know about a man who wreaked death and destruction on the world," Tektas said.
"Mostly young people," said Sami Kilic, owner of the Emre publishing house, another company on the "Mein Kampf" bandwagon, which sold 26,000 copies from a run of 31,000 released in late January.
"The times we live in have a definite impact on sales," Kilic said. "It is an astonishing phenomenon."
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: He linked interest in the book to Turkey's bid to join the European Union, seen by the right-wing as a desertion of national values, and rising sentiment against the United States and its ally Israel over the treatment they are perceived here as meting out to the Iraqis and the Palestinians, respectively.
"This book, which does not contain a single ounce of humanity, unfortunately appears to be taken seriously in this country," political scientist Dogu Ergil complained in a recent newspaper interview. He agreed that the unexpected popularity of "Mein Kampf" in the Muslim-majority country has its roots in a rise in anti-American sentiment sparked by the occupation of Iraq and anti-Semitism resulting from Israel's Palestinian policy.
"Nazism, buried in the dustbin of history in Europe, is beginning to re-emerge in Turkey," he warned.
(...)
Talk about nazism...
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by eXc|Imperator
