Time for Germany to republish Mein Kampf?

[hellheaven1987]

An interesting BBC article.

here is no law against publishing Mein Kampf in Germany, but the copyright holders have until now refused permission. Now they are planning to publish a new edition of Hitler's book themselves and Stephan J Kramer, of Germany's Central Council of Jews, agrees the time is right.

Contrary to what some people may think, there is, at present, no general prohibition against the publication of Adolf Hitler's book.

The reason it has been possible to ban new editions is purely technical. After World War II, the state of Bavaria became the owner of parts of Hitler's property which had been confiscated by the occupying powers - including the copyright to the dictator's publications.

Thus Bavaria has been able, so far, to use its discretion and block new editions. However, the copyright expires in 2015.

The only imaginable way to continue the existing ban beyond 2015 would be explicit legislation to this effect - a complicated process which might even run into constitutional difficulties and fail to clear the hurdle of the Constitutional Court.

Source

Do you think it is time for Germany to allow the publishment of Mein Kampf, especially when the number of neo-Nazis increases sharply in Germany (and all Europe) in past two years?

[Claudius Gothicus]

I think it's simply irrelevant, one way or another.

[The Noble Lord]

I think it's simply irrelevant, one way or another.

I agree, if anyone would want to read 'Mein Kampf' they they can order it from Amazon.com and problem solved!

[LSJ]

Books should not be banned just because one finds the content abhorrent. It should be up to the publisher to decide whether or not to make it, and the retailer to decide whether or not to sell it. There are plenty of books that contain misinformation, propaganda, and hateful speech. The political/non-fiction section at local bookstores seem to contain lots of those, ranging from "Bush did 9/11" to "How Muslims and Liberals are Destroying America" (paraphrasing).

If people really want to read Mein Kampf, they can get it online, as a physical book or as an ebook. In the age of internet, book bans serve no purpose.

[Mangalore]

Books should not be banned just because one finds the content abhorrent. It should be up to the publisher to decide whether or not to make it, and the retailer to decide whether or not to sell it. There are plenty of books that contain misinformation, propaganda, and hateful speech. The political/non-fiction section at local bookstores seem to contain lots of those, ranging from "Bush did 9/11" to "How Muslims and Liberals are Destroying America" (paraphrasing).
...

The book was never banned. The publisher was simply the state of bavaria who refused to reprint it. Ownership etc. was never banned. As a pre 1949 publication it was never banned by anti-Nazism restrictions banning hate propaganda etc., only later edited editions were.

Because we don't live in the 1950's anymore.

Dumb ideas don't have an expiration date.

[Eneru112]

Dumb ideas don't have an expiration date.

Do you know what "subjective" means?

[The Juggernaut]

It's not like people who really want to read it can't find it. All any sort of ban is doing is increasing interest and controversy over what is a rather poorly written book. To be honest, I think it should be recommended reading for history classes, just so people know how delusional Hitler really was.

[Menelik_I]

An interesting BBC article.



Source

Do you think it is time for Germany to allow the publishment of Mein Kampf, especially when the number of neo-Nazis increases sharply in Germany (and all Europe) in past two years?

Only if Germans are so lazy that they can't be bothered to look for a digital copy on a NeoNazi website.

[Stavroforos]

I don't see why Germans should be banned from reading their own history.

[The Despondent Mind]

Won't make any difference .

[removeduser_487563287433]

Although this may be provocative at first, I don't think there can be any harm in it. It's an irrelevancy in the internet age, anyway.

[Condottiere 40K]

The problem is more likely in future, when someone decides to do a rewrite to improve the literary tone and make it fit more into their agenda.

[Caelifer_1991]

You seem to think that neo-nazis are either willing or capable of reading...

[Eneru112]

You seem to think that neo-nazis are either willing or capable of reading...

Way to not be biased.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

Way to not be biased.

and why shouldn't we be baised against nazism?

[Eneru112]

and why shouldn't we be baised against nazism?

Because we don't live in the 1950's anymore.

[The Gurkhan]

Do you think it is time for Germany to allow the publishment of Mein Kampf, especially when the number of neo-Nazis increases sharply in Germany (and all Europe) in past two years?

If anything publishing it could counter the supposed increase in 'Neo-Nazis'. Once the text is more widely debated in the German public sphere, these deluded and rather absurd young men might come to realise how wrong they are.

Nowhere in his message does the Fuhrer encourage the thuggish, base, crude and vile behaviour one sees in 'Neo-Nazis'.

[Treize]

I want to make a remark about Greeks but I don't want to get infracted by our humourless moderators..

[s.rwitt]

Germany's Central Council of Jews?

[Col. Tartleton]

Germany's Central Council of Jews?

I don't even know how these boards form. Plus the name is just blatant Zionist Conspiracy baiting.

It reminds me of Mark Levin being pissed a the Anti Defamation League. He's like "Who the hell are these guys? I'm a Jew. A lot of my friends are Jews. We didn't vote for you. You don't speak for us."

He was mad because they were talking up Obama or something where he was clearly going against Israeli interests by suggesting pre 1967 borders in an official capacity and naturally it pisses him off that an organization supposedly dedicated to combating bigotry, protecting civil rights, and advocating for Jewish people and Israel are going to be playing politics which don't even align with those objectives.

On topic, I don't know what scares me more: How insane Hitler was or that it was attractive to others. I mean there were Jews and other minorities who supported Hitler... Actually reading the book combats the first (better to read a crazy person's words than to be told they are crazy), but there isn't anything you can do about the other.