Mein Kampf

Scholarly edition of Mein Kampf

Nazi Germany, Personalities

In 2012 the Bavarian State Government pledged half a million Euros to a project designed to provide scholarly analysis of Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf. The funding was designed to pay for academics to provide detailed analysis of the text, with an aim of debunking many of Hitler’s arguments. 

Mein Kampf

The copyright for Mein Kampf, which is owned by the Bavarian State Legislature, is due to expire in 2015. It had been thought that such a project would be a good way of ensuring that the state of Bavaria remained largely in control of the text. However recent political issues in Germany appear to have led to the withdrawal of funding for the project.

As Bavaria is currently contemplating banning a group due to it neo-Nazi policies, it is argued that to publish works based on Hitler’s text would be inappropriate.

If the aim was to produce a document that clearly countered extreme beliefs, then surely the publication of these ought to be a good thing. Fortunately the organisers of the project will not have to return any of the funds that have already been granted. Likewise they state that the project will continue and claim that it will:

break down the propaganda in the work and make it transparent

Bavaria currently blocks publication of Mein Kampf in most forms. It does however allow it to be reproduced for academic purposes such as this project.

Mein Kampf is a pretty dull read. I can only assume that the projects work will be academic in style. Granted, that makes it quite inaccessible to school aged learners – but for teachers wanting to further their knowledge and be up to date with the most recent thinking about Hitler and his ideology, the final results of this project ought to be quite interesting.

Detailed article about the project and it’s funding.