Reading mine kampf... Social Stigma?

crazy cabbage · 08-07-2012 07:33PM #1

Decided that i want to read Mein Kampf. I am not a nazi or anything like that. I just think it would be interesting to find out what was going through the mass murders head if that makes sence. Listen from the horses mouth instead of secondary sources and all that...

Question is: What would people think if they see me reading it? Is it fround upon? Has anyone else read it / would you recomend it.

Edit: Yes i do have to learn how to spell

Casillas · 08-07-2012 07:34PM

Read it, why not. It's the suppression of ideas that is dangerous?

bluto63 · 08-07-2012 07:35PM

Replace the cover this

flutterflye · 08-07-2012 07:35PM

Why do you care?
Why not just read it if you want?
Who gives a crap like.
I haven't read it, but I probably will at some point.

wallpaper12 · 08-07-2012 07:36PM

I tried to read it but its just so badly written and full of lies that I gave up.

Jimoslimos · 08-07-2012 07:36PM

Kindle ftw

That is if you want to read objectionable material unbeknownst to your fellow commuter

Sappa · 08-07-2012 07:38PM

I'm waiting to read the sequel by merkel.

Bassfish · 08-07-2012 07:39PM

If I saw someone reading mein kampf, unless they were a skinhead and wearing doc martins and braces, I'd assume they had a keen interest in history, nothing more.
Haven't read it myself but I've heard it's mainly self-aggrandising tripe.

V_Moth · 08-07-2012 07:39PM

crazy cabbage wrote: »

Decided that i want to read Mne Kampf. I am not a nazi or anything like that. I just think it would be interesting to find out what was going through the mass murders head if that makes sence. Listen from the horses mouth instead of secondary sources and all that...

Question is: What would people think if they see me reading it? Is it fround upon? Has anyone else read it / would you recomend it.

Adolf Hitler - Mein Kampf against bad grammar...

Dangerous Man · 08-07-2012 07:40PM

I haven't read it myself; I read Ian Kershaw's 2 volume account of Hitler which was bloody fascinating though. Kershaw, on more than one occasion made the point that Mein Kampf was extremely tedious and not really worth reading.

The original title of Mein Kampf was 'Four-and-a-half-years of struggle against lies, stupidity, and cowardice.' Seriously.

Birroc · 08-07-2012 07:40PM

Its "Mein" not "Mine" or "Mne".

Mein = My

"My Struggle"

Collie D · 08-07-2012 07:41PM

I'd probably be interested in reading it myself from an historical point of view. Not sure it would be one for the daily commute though. Where exactly did you get it? Not something you could pick up in Eason's I'd imagine.

LOL at the Merkel sequel comment

laoch na mona · 08-07-2012 07:41PM

expect evils from people reading the communist manifesto

Dartz · 08-07-2012 07:41PM

Without understanding history, we are doomed to repeat it.

Be a hero. Pirate it.

Terrontress · 08-07-2012 07:41PM

Learn how to spell the title first.

I've got a copy although I didn't attempt to read it in public. It's tough going. Rambling, self-satisfied nonsense. My copy of the translation also had footnotes on most pages contradicting or challenging a lot of what Hitler had written which is quite offputting.

I didn't even make it a third of the way through.

nungesser · 08-07-2012 07:42PM

My young cousin was reading Mein Kampf and had it on the kitchen table, his dad got drunk and late one night grabbed a pen and signed the inside of the book "Jim we'll always have aushwitz, Adolf". My cousin was mortified especially as it was a book he checked out of the library. The rest of us thought it was F'n hilarious!

flutterflye · 08-07-2012 07:43PM

laoch na mona wrote: »

expect evils from people reading the communist manifesto

Why?
That makes no sense at all.
I've read The Communist Manifesto, yet will probably read Mein Kampf at some point.

Terrontress · 08-07-2012 07:45PM

Collie D wrote: »

I'd probably be interested in reading it myself from an historical point of view. Not sure it would be one for the daily commute though. Where exactly did you get it? Not something you could pick up in Eason's I'd imagine.

LOL at the Merkel sequel comment

You'd get it in Easons I think. My sister bought me my copy as a Christmas present from Waterstones!

It's worth getting in order to satisfy yourself that it really is that bad.

You'll end up thinking "Is that it?"

IloveConverse · 08-07-2012 07:45PM

Read it at home, by yourself.

You'll find yourself pausing at stages, thinking about what's written on the page, and comparing it with later outcomes in Nazi-Germany. It's not something one would read on the train, etc. You need time and space to think, by yourself.

I read it last year. It's an interesting read, but it is very time-consuming.

There is definately a stigma attached to reading it- Some that I've told I've read it jump to the conclusion that I'm becoming a neo-Nazi. Others don't care, as they see the point in such a read.

Enjoy.

monkeypants · 08-07-2012 07:48PM

Collie D wrote: »

Not something you could pick up in Eason's I'd imagine.

LOL at the Merkel sequel comment

A friend asked about it in the Blanch Eason's years ago and all activity at the tills ceased. They didn't have it.

Also laughed at the Merkel comment.

Gummy Panda · 08-07-2012 07:48PM

Just don't try to buy it in Germany lol

jhegarty · 08-07-2012 07:51PM

Strangely this thread doesn't seem to have been godwined yet.

Collie D · 08-07-2012 07:52PM

Just remembered I borrowed The Satanic Bible when I was in school as a curiosity. Just couldn't get into it and I always make a point of finishing a book no matter how much I dislike it. Think that was the only one that failed that particular test. Nowehere near as interesting/controversial as I'd expected.

Anyone know who gets the royalties (if any) for Mein Kampf?

General Relativity · 08-07-2012 07:54PM

Ive read it, it's a fairly hard read, I'm sure it's better in German.

http://archive.org/stream/meinkampf035176mbp/meinkampf035176mbp_djvu.txt

Enjoy!

Terrontress · 08-07-2012 07:54PM

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Just don't try to buy it in Germany lol

The state of Bavaria owns the German copyright and have kept it from being published since the modern federal state was given its autonomy post ww2. It is coming up to the time when the copyright will expire so Bayern is going to publish it in advance of that to try to keep control of its distribution.

Apparently it is written in quite a colloquial German, typical of Southern Germany / Austria, which does not translate well in to English. Little suffixes etc.

Blowfish · 08-07-2012 07:59PM

I've read it, though it was a fair while ago now. Interesting to try and see stuff from his perspective, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially after seeing the results having been to Auschwitz.

laoch na mona wrote: »

expect evils from people reading the communist manifesto

I've read that too. Can't quite work out which of them is worse.

Tonyandthewhale · 08-07-2012 08:03PM

I tried reading it and I wouldn't recommend it. Curiosity or not, it's still a very badly written book.

crazy cabbage · 08-07-2012 08:04PM

Casillas wrote: »

Read it, why not. It's the suppression of ideas that is dangerous?

Very true. Thanks. Will proberly just end up getting it in libary. Dout if it will be one for reading on the trian alright

Don't know how true this is but isn't there like 7 versions of the book and all different (ish). I would imagine becouse it is illegal in germany (or atleast used to be) that the origonals would have been destroyed. There is ment to be a fair discrepancy between the different versions so Which one would be closest to what hitler actully wrote? Proberly impossible to know at this stage though...

Dugdale abridgment
Murphy translation
Reynal and Hitchcock translation
Stackpole translation
Cranston translation
Manheim translation
Official Nazi Translation

Thanks all for replys

Sappa wrote: »

I'm waiting to read the sequel by merkel.

DoubleBogey · 08-07-2012 08:10PM

crazy cabbage wrote: »

Decided that i want to read Mein Kampf. I am not a nazi or anything like that. I just think it would be interesting to find out what was going through the mass murders head if that makes sence. Listen from the horses mouth instead of secondary sources and all that...

Question is: What would people think if they see me reading it? Is it fround upon? Has anyone else read it / would you recomend it.

Edit: Yes i do have to learn how to spell

I presume you are going to download it? Just be careful you are actually downloading the real thing and not some nut job edited version ( other nut job than Hitler!)

As for the social stigma, it's banned in Germany isn't it? And I can safely assume Jews would have serious issues with it, I wouldn't exactly go around flaunting it. Also bear in mind a lot of Irish people would be ignorant to what it is. So pulling out a book on the train with a Nazi symbol or a picture of Hitler on the cover would definitely get you a few stares.

But for what it's worth I happen to think its the most important books written in a historical sense. You are absolutely right that you should read it and get your own understanding. I want to say much more but trying to be careful about what I publish on the internet is giving me a headache, and that just says it all about what I would like to say. We live in a free world and you can read what you like and don't need to justify it to anyone.

marcsignal · 08-07-2012 08:12PM

crazy cabbage wrote: »

Decided that i want to read Mein Kampf. I am not a nazi or anything like that. I just think it would be interesting to find out what was going through the mass murders head if that makes sence.

Tried reading it, got bored quickly, so I skipped to the last page.

I don't want to ruin it for you OP, but

Hitler did it..

:pac:

jam_mac_jam · 08-07-2012 08:14PM

Its meant to be a dreadful book. Not in the ideas are bad way, as they obviously are but that its boring and badly written also.

Reading mine kampf... Social Stigma?

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