What to do with Mein Kampf?!

[Bannedcontent]

My late DF was a history buff and after he died we gave a lot of his books to charity but kept a few.

Among them was an English translation of Mein Kampf. It’s a first edition from 1939.

I held on to it as a historic artefact but would now like to move it on.

I can’t sell it on Amazon or eBay as it’s banned.

So the question is: do I bin it? (YABU)
Do I donate it to a library or something? (YANBU) Where?!

It is only banned in Germany.

The whole point is reading what Hitler wrote though, his mindset. Not historians who didn't write the book.

Sorry, but that is a silly response, especially from someone who worked at the IWM. All things Nazi should be freely studied to stymie the Holocaust deniers. Mein Kampf is turgid but you can see the direction Hitler's mind was taking among the daft rants and diatribes.
Hiding the book away gives it the status of a forbidden treasure, something to be savoured at secret meetings.
On public display, this book would be seen for what it is - boring and mad and nothing but drivel.

Sorry, replied too quickly.

*Or didn't start a world war.

HIS mindset is important to study because look what he managed to 'achieve' with it? Historians look at events they weren't involved in, you will always see it clearer from the primary source. I don't get why that is hard to understand.

Well, that's another point isn't it, not selling this book isn't saving someone from being exposed to it. It is already freely available. No point then in destroying it.

Or, by that same argument, no point in keeping it either.

It’s not about exposure to the actual text. You could say the same about selling an original Nazi flag - everyone knows what a swastika looks like, and a Neo-Nazi may well already have stitched their own so what harm is there in selling one of those? What difference does it make?
A great deal of difference. I wouldn’t underestimate the pride and satisfaction a Nazi-Sympathiser can get from owning these sorts of things. Reading Mein Kampf on your kindle and having a generic copy on the shelf is not as powerful as having a first edition copy in pride of place, especially if it adds to your already extensive memorabilia collection. Things like these help to further internalise and cement and spread dangerous ideals.
It’s not dissimilar to religions having sacred objects. Crosses and crucifixes have sincere meanings to people, they cling on to them when they are dying. You could even compare to some super fan listening to their favourite band on iTunes then buying a signed vinyl record. It might actually be broken - but it’s precious to them nonetheless. And holding it and looking at it may actually bring out more obsessive emotions than listening to the songs.
Symbolism is powerful. Objects can be very emotive. To think that owning a first edition copy of Mein Kampf makes no difference when it’s freely available to read anyway is I think dangerously naive. The OP really should not try and sell it. It’s irresponsible.

People don't like burning/pulping/shredding/recycling books, but I think it is fine, there is burning books because you want to stop people accessing books and the words in them, and there is burning books because it is a convenient way to dispose of a surplus/unwanted book.

Although recycling is probably what I would do.

A quick Google shows 1939 1st ed English translations sell at auction for about £150 if that helps you decide

I agree.

It’d also add we need to study the Conditions in which the drivel took hold from a r age fi contemporary sources, or we risk recreating the society in which seeds like this can be sown and grown. I was watching World at War, 1930s Germany, the other night and my children were fascinated listening to ordinary Germans speak about the drip drip of how Germany changed around them. They were also fascinated to see the American newsreels about how great Hitler was. If we forget these bits, that this was not seen as repulsive by many westerns at the time, then we forget how to actually ensure this never ever happens again. Being a 1970s documentary it has plenty of first hand accounts or news footage from the 30s, my children don’t see this aspect. To them it’s all impossible distant history, a single mad man who is now dead. I think that’s a dangerous view, to not understand that right-wing ideology has not died or how it can scarily blossom in certain conditions. Or understand what the first drips looked like, and what the red flags are .

I've never seen a copy but I'd expect the same general tropes in Mein Kampf to be the ones currently trotted out by right wing racist politicians. That is in itself a useful thing to educate young people about - how to see through textbook lies and insane generic propaganda approaches and appreciate them for what they really are (extremely dangerous and frightening, and used in a way the desensitizes people).

Things like these help to further internalise and cement and spread dangerous ideals
BeanieTeen do you feel the same about Stalinist memorabilia?

SammyScrounge

Sorry - I think you've misunderstood!

I'm certainly advocating donating it to a museum such as the IWM, or to a university history department. That's not hiding it away - quite the reverse. It's making it available to scholars and researchers, or in fact to be displayed in a responsible context.

I don't know where I advocate 'hiding it away.?? What I don't think would be wise would be to sell it to an individual collector. Trust me, the IWM was very wary indeed about some of the motives of collectors of Nazi memorabilia.

Hope that clears things up.

BeanieTeen do you feel the same about Stalinist memorabilia?

Seriously? @Southwestten
I give up on this thread 😂
Yes, if someone is a murderer or has or has had a following that is is somewhat murderous in recent history then their ‘memorabilia’ is not something to profit from. And private collections - especially ones set up in admiration - are very much to be discouraged.
Be that for Hitler, Stalin or Charles Manson.

Thank you for answering my question BeanieTeen.
I agree but I’ve often noticed Stalin gets an easier ride - Corbyn spoke at a May Day rally where those attending were carrying banners depicting Stalin - his appalling and murderous regime seems to have been forgotten, or maybe thought what he did was acceptable.

Typical leftoid hypocrisy “mass murder for me but not for thee”

@Elmore that's disturbingly catchy

I agree but I’ve often noticed Stalin gets an easier ride - Corbyn spoke at a May Day rally where those attending were carrying banners depicting Stalin - his appalling and murderous regime seems to have been forgotten, or maybe thought what he did was acceptable.

Yes because Stalin only killed his own people @Southwestten I think history in general has taught us that apparently that’s ok… And if you’re going to invade a country just make sure it’s citizens aren’t white. Also fine.

You know after all these bizarre posts on this thread my instant response was to think you thought Stalin was fair game, therefore Hitler should be, sadly it wouldn’t have surprised me 😂

Yes because Stalin only killed his own people

But he didn’t just kill his own people. He killed people all over the Soviet Union in countries that had been independent.

What if the sky is falling? I hear chicken little says so. Look I am a librarian. I have, do and will resist books being banned as have many in my profession but your what if is ludicrous. This is one copy of a book in over 100 university libraries in this country alone and widely available online. To put it another way my employer has copies of Mein Kampf. If they are damaged or lost, Ill replacement them and I wouldn't remove them. But I also wouldn't accept this donation. This is about one copy of a book, not banning all copies which I would strongly resist.

Don't burn books!!!

It's a piece of history.

I did Politics at University and one of the tutors got us to list the attributes of Right wing vs Left wing extremism (Fascism vs Communism) in their purest sense. There actually wasn’t a lot of difference. We then looked at regimes from both sides - Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pol Pot etc
He said what do you think would happen if you stood up in The Union on Friday night and announced you were a Communist? And what do you think would happen if you announced you were a Fascist?
The Left seems to get an easier ride historically while all extremist regimes should be condemned unequivocally

Ours is worth closer to £1000 I think but it’s certainly NOT for sale

On the topic of Hitler/Stalin, Alan Bullock drew some fascinating parallels about their early lives in his book ( titled "Hitler and Stalin", amazingly). There are even photos of them both at the same age at their primary schools, both weirdly sitting in the same position in the class and both with their arms folded in a belligerent attitude. It's chilling to look at images of little children who would grow up to murder so many people.

It's pointless trying to say which was the vilest, but, as well as those they caused to be killed in a world war, you could say that each engineered a systematic holocaust of certain sections of their own people: Jews, and other minorities in Nazi Germany (easily 7 million) and at least that number of Kulaks in the Ukraine by Stalin. These were deliberate, planned exterminations.

You seem to think that Hitler fans make up the only market for this type of book. That is very obviously not true, there are many antiquarians and bibliophiles that would enjoy having a first edition on their shelves with no affection for the title itself.

OP the bottom line is that this book may have a monetary value, find out how much that is before making your choice, it may be sufficiently low to make this whole question moot. Once you know, if you think it's worth the trouble, you can choose whether to realize that value and enjoy the money, I probably would. 🙂

Where the book ends up is not something I think you should feel responsible for, the idea that we all have to consider every possible buyer scenario for everything we sell is laughable. Anyway, there are plenty of potential buyers whose motivation will be perfectly benign regardless of the made-up Nazi waiting to get their warm and fuzzies being fantasized up by this classically over-the-top Mumsnet thread 🙄

Just chuck it. It's not rare, unusual or out of print. Anyone who wants a copy can get one. Unless it's Hitler's own copy, it's worthless.

It's not "a historical artefact", it's a paperback. Y'all do realise the silly book is literally there in bookstores?

Ah, I just re-read and saw it's a 1939 first edition.

Hell yeah, sell it. I trade in vintage books. I'm not going to google but that could be worth a fair bit.

Apparently it's very dull and doesn't contain much of substance anyway.