Because the ideas in it are so persuasive? That’s what you have to argue if you claim the book is too dangerous for ordinary people to read.
Few would have imagined that Hitler’s autobiography “Mein Kampf” would become a bestseller in the 21st century again. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this year with the expiration of a German state copyright that had been used to prohibit reprinting of the book.
On Saturday, “Mein Kampf” could become even more widely accessible in Europe. The right-wing Italian newspaper Il Giornale has announced that it will distribute the book freely to readers of its Saturday edition — an announcement that drew heavy criticism from Jewish groups in the country.
The Italian news agency ANSA quoted the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Renzo Gattegna, as saying: “The free distribution … is a squalid fact that is light years away from all logic of studying the Shoah and the different factors that led the whole of humanity to sink into an abyss of unending hatred, death and violence.”
“It must be stated clearly: the Giornale’s operation is indecent,” said Gattegna.
Similar plans of a right-wing publishing company in Germany had already caused outrage earlier this week. “Mein Kampf” has been available in German bookstores since January — but only in an annotated version that is supposed to point out inconsistencies and lies in Hitler’s arguments. There are more than 3,000 additional comments in that version.
According to German law, publishing the book without annotations would be considered seditious. But that is what right-wing publishing company Schelm is now planning to do. Prosecutors are investigating the plans and could file charges even before the book gets published.
“This book is too dangerous for the general public,” library historian Florian Sepp told The Washington Post last year, reflecting a sentiment among several German experts on that research field.
The publisher argues that an unannotated version of Hitler’s autobiography would serve as historical documentation — but researchers object, saying that the annotated edition is fully sufficient.
