‘Mein Kampf’ reprint takes Germany by storm

ANT KATZ

The book outlines Hitler’s ideology that formed the basis for Nazism and sets out his hatred of Jews, which led to the Holocaust. The new edition includes explanatory sections and some 3,500 annotations, and has sold 85,000 copies to the surprise of its publishers.

“These sales figures have taken us by storm,” Andreas Wirsching of the publishers, the Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ). “No-one could really have expected them,” he added.

RIGHT: Hitler’s manifesto ‘Mein Kampf’ becomes bestseller in Germany

Jewish groups in Germany have denounced the inflammatory book, which sold out the first print run of 4,000 copies very quickly.

The new copies, the book’s sixth print run, include critical notes by scholars. The book also features a plain white cover due to German laws banning Nazi-era symbols such as the swastika.

Hitler wrote most of ‘Mein Kampf’ – which translates as My Struggle in English – while incarcerated in Landsberg prison after his failed Munich coup attempt in 1923. in 1924. It was banned by the Allies at the end of WWII.

When it was first published in 1935, eight years before Hitler rose to power, the infamous text sold 12 million copies in Germany.