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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To read Mein Kampf?

51 replies

DarlingDuck · 20/08/2011 20:49

I had a curiosity, albeit a morbid one, about what on earcth could have gone on inside his mind. I bought it on amazon and it has lay unopened as I can't bring myself to open it! Would I be unreasonable to read it?

OP posts:
TidyDancer · 20/08/2011 20:51

Is there a faux pas about reading it? I don't think YABU btw, I just wondered if there was a particular thing against it? I think the curiousity is natural.

DuelingFanjo · 20/08/2011 20:51

yanbu. read what you like.

DonaldMcronald · 20/08/2011 20:52

Read it I have

disclaimer I am not a racist nazi I just like history and Hitler was a major historical figure

Original poster
DarlingDuck · 20/08/2011 20:52

I don't know, I just felt a bit creeped out once it arrived

OP posts:
PacificDogwood · 20/08/2011 20:55

DarlingDuck, you ANBU, but I am fascinated Shock! Never occurred to me to actually read it, and I am German.

Go on, read it, and then post a book review - for me, so I don't have to feel weird about not having read it.

Leverkusen · 20/08/2011 20:56

I've read it. I think it's interesting

Onemorning · 20/08/2011 20:57

YANBU

My late grandfather who fought in WWII had a copy. He certainly wasn't a Nazi but he may have killed a few.

LittleWhiteWolf · 20/08/2011 21:00

Just read it. You've taken the plunge to buy it, so read it. It won't make you a nazi, but it might make you more informed about what went on inside the mind of possible the most (certainly in the top ten) most hated figures of the 20th century.

Whatmeworry · 20/08/2011 21:02

YANBU it's essential to understanding Nazism - and any dogmatic doctrine in any subject IMO.

LunaticFringe · 20/08/2011 21:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AgentZigzag · 20/08/2011 21:08

My dad has a copy (as he has of most books Grin) and told me not to bother reading it as it's mostly tedius immature drivel.

I believe him.

Corvax · 20/08/2011 21:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BelleDameSansMerci · 20/08/2011 21:10

I wonder where the royalties from the book go? Just wondering, not making any accusations or anything.

I don't think I could read it. I wouldn't want it in my house but I don't think your curiosity is hard to understand.

tethersend · 20/08/2011 21:11

Read it.

Just don't leave it lying around

PacificDogwood · 20/08/2011 21:13

Grin tethers

RustyBear · 20/08/2011 21:14

I read it when I studied the Rise of Nazism for my History degree - to be honest, I don't really remember much of it (it was nearly 35 years ago) but it was very difficult to wade through, not really interesting in itself, only with hindsight because you know what happened.

AgentZigzag · 20/08/2011 21:14

Awww you look so cute tethers.

Wink
kendalmintcake · 20/08/2011 21:25

I've read it, he does ramble on a bit.

schroeder · 20/08/2011 21:28

Read it. I keep meaning to; my Grandad had a copy and Chairman Mao's little red book and I have inherited them. 'Know thine enemy' (or something) Wink

Cheria · 20/08/2011 21:28

YANBU. It's rambly but parts of it are fascinating. And it's not like, by buying it, you're giving him any money...

theinet · 20/08/2011 21:31

I've read some of it. It's just an incredibly boring and long winded ramble, tells you very little about the maniac.

BornSicky · 20/08/2011 21:34

I have a large collection of very unsavoury nazi books from a research project a few years ago. They're just on the shelf with all the rest of my other books. Never occurred to me until a boyfriend pointed out that it made me look like a weirdo.

Read the book though, it's a bizarre insight into Hitler.

Andrewofgg · 20/08/2011 21:50

I have read it. All of it. My lord, but it was a struggle. Turgid drivel. It wasn't Corporal Hitler's skill in written German that propelled him to the top. His spoken German, that was something else, unfortunately.

In the Third Reich there were millions of copies around, it was given as a wedding present (!) and every schoolchild was given one. It has not been reprinted in German since 1945, but there must be great numbers still around.

The copyright belongs to the German Government, which is why it has not been reprinted; but at the end of 2115 it will be out of copyright (life plus seventy then to the end of the year) and anyone will be able to reprint. The German Government intends to reprint it first in an annotated edition to get in first - probably the least bad thing they can do.

Read it if you want - it won't harm you. The sort of person it might harm is not on MN.

PacificDogwood · 20/08/2011 21:52

Right, that settles it: no need to read it Grin[relieved].

Apart from the subject matter, I had heard that it was badly written drivel.

Interesting about the copyright; I didn't know that. Thanks, Andrew.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 20/08/2011 21:56

We have several copies at work and I've flicked through. A colleague has read it properly and he agreed with the turgid drivel conclusion. That's why I've never bothered. But you would not BU to try if you wanted.

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