Mein Kampf

What Mein Kampf is

Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") is Adolf Hitler's combination of autobiography and political programme. The first volume, published in July 1925, describes his childhood in Austria, his years in Vienna, his service in the First World War and the early growth of the Nazi Party. The second volume, published in December 1926, sets out the party's ideology and plans. Its central ideas are an antisemitic conspiracy theory blaming Jews for Germany's defeat and for both capitalism and Communism; a racial theory of history; the demand for "living space" (Lebensraum) for Germans in Eastern Europe at the expense of Russia; and the rejection of parliamentary democracy in favour of a single leader. Historians read it as an early statement of policies the Nazi regime later carried out, including war in the East and the persecution of Jews.

How it was written and sold

After his failed attempt to seize power in Munich in November 1923, Hitler was convicted of treason and served about nine months of a five-year sentence in Landsberg prison, where conditions were comfortable. He dictated much of the first volume there, to his driver Emil Maurice and to Rudolf Hess. The party's publishing house, Franz Eher Nachfolger in Munich, published both volumes.

Sales were modest until Hitler came to power in 1933. After that, the book became compulsory: millions of copies were sold or given away, and many towns presented a copy to every newly married couple. By 1945 about 12 million copies had been printed in German, and the royalties made Hitler rich.

The ban, in full

After the war, the Allies gave the assets of the Eher publishing house, including the copyright to Mein Kampf, to the state of Bavaria, where Hitler had been registered as living. For seventy years Bavaria used the copyright to refuse permission for any reprint in Germany. Owning or selling pre-1945 copies was never illegal, and the book was available in libraries for research, but no new German edition could be published.

The copyright expired at the end of 2015, seventy years after Hitler's death. In January 2016 the Institute for Contemporary History (Institut für Zeitgeschichte) in Munich published Hitler, Mein Kampf: Eine kritische Edition, about 2,000 pages in two volumes, with thousands of scholarly annotations correcting and explaining the text. It became a bestseller. German authorities have indicated that new editions without critical commentary could still be prosecuted under incitement laws.

Elsewhere, distributing the book is prohibited in Austria under the 1947 Prohibition Act (Verbotsgesetz), which bans National Socialist activity and propaganda. Russia added it to its federal list of extremist materials in 2010, making its distribution illegal. In 2020 Amazon removed a number of editions, mostly self-published ones, from its store after an appeal from the Holocaust Educational Trust.

English translations

The standard English translation is by Ralph Manheim, first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1943 and still in print (it is the edition our Bookshop link points to). An earlier translation by James Murphy appeared in Britain in 1939. Many cheap modern editions use older, public-domain or unattributed translations of varying accuracy, and some are published with sympathetic introductions. Scholars recommend the Manheim translation, ideally read alongside a history of the period.

Why it is on this shelf

Banned Bookshelf lists books that governments, courts and companies have banned, restricted or removed, and records why. Mein Kampf is one of the most frequently restricted books in the world, and the history of how different countries have handled it is part of the history of censorship. Listing it here describes that history; it is not an endorsement.

Questions

Is Mein Kampf banned in Germany?

Not exactly. Old copies have always been legal to own and sell, and since 2016 a critical annotated edition has been on sale. For seventy years the state of Bavaria blocked reprints through its copyright, and uncommented new editions may still be prosecuted. See banned books in Germany.

Where is Mein Kampf banned?

Its distribution is prohibited in Austria and Russia, among other countries. More: Germany, Austria, Russia.