On Banning Mein Kampf

13 Responses to “On Banning Mein Kampf”

1. Andrew Brehm on March 11th, 2008 3:34 pm

   Hm… Drima, I think this is one of those cases.

   “Mein Kampf” is not banned in Germany, but the copyright is owned by the Bavarian government in whose “employ” the ignorant author wrote it. And the Bavarian government grants permission to distribute only for educational purposes. I.e. schools and universities can buy it.

   This is roughly similar to copyright law in the UK which states that certain books’ copyrights are owned by the crown for eternity.

   There is a German law, I believe, that prohibits illegal (due to the copyright limitation) ownership of “Mein Kampf”.

   Now, the reason for that law is simply the same as for gun control laws: it gives the government a pretext for acting against those who violate the laws. It’s a way to get neo-Nazis, who are generally the only ones who have copies of the book without bothering to go to a school or university to get a copy.

   When a bunch of neo-Nazis meet somewhere, and the police find there a collection of “Mein Kampf”s and guns, the police can act. Otherwise, the entire planing routine would be officially legal. This is a sore spot for Germany because the legality of the planing was how the ignorant author managed to come to power originally.

   The Bavarian government knows about the Internet. But whether or not somebody reads “Mein Kampf” on the Internet has nothing to do with the actual purpose of the law.

   On a side-note, famous Israeli author Ephraim Kishon, who wrote in Hebrew and German, once wrote an essay about bald people where he goes into great detail as to how the bald are trying to take over the world and how, historically, all the bad things in the world have been the fault of bald people.

   He called the essay “Mein Kamm”, which is German for “my comb”.

2. Drima on March 11th, 2008 5:55 pm

   Hmmm interesting. So it’s not banned like how Holocaust denial or its historic “revisions” are. I see. Well if it’s about copyright, then I guess that’s a different issue.

3. Halalhippie on March 11th, 2008 7:03 pm

   “On a side-note, famous Israeli author Ephraim Kishon, who wrote in Hebrew and German, once wrote an essay about bald people where he goes into great detail as to how the bald are trying to take over the world and how, historically, all the bad things in the world have been the fault of bald people.”

   hah! Another smear-campaign. We baldheads will defend our honor by any means necessary ….

   Sure, Germany has it’s reasons about Mein Kampf, but in general, banning a book - any book - does more damage than the book itself. Satanic Verses, the Da Vinci Code, Elders of Zion, etc.

4. Andrew Brehm on March 11th, 2008 7:27 pm

   “Sure, Germany has it’s reasons about Mein Kampf,”

   Again, it is _not_ banned.

   “but in general, banning a book - any book - does more damage than the book itself. Satanic Verses, the Da Vinci Code, Elders of Zion, etc.”

   You think? Why do you think the ignorant author wrote his book? Do you not think that he thought it would help him achieve his goal? Do you not think that it would have stopped or delayed him if the book had been banned immediately?

   The book has done considerable damage. I doubt a case can be made that banning it would have resulted in greater damage.

   Note that I am not in favour of banning that book or any book, but the damages argument is just wrong.

5. eatbees on March 11th, 2008 7:28 pm

   So, what’s the point?

   Usually the point is to soothe the righteous indignation of the people banning the book. In other words, it’s a selfish act.

6. Roman Kalik on March 11th, 2008 8:09 pm

   The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was, in its day, sold freely as a legitimate and correct work that was nothing but the truth. People bought it freely, and read it, and believed it - because no one was there to deny it, and thus it became one of the pillars of modern anti-Semitism. It became the ground on which the world domination conspiracies have been built for over a century.

   What would have happened had it been attacked as a hate tract instead? What would have happened had it been banned, had no decent store been able to hold the text? I don’t know.

   I think education is the key, and awareness, but some books… Some books are so utterly evil that they should have never seen the light of day. But how do we define what can or can’t be published, or sold? How do we stop ourselves from extending that line far beyond what we first wanted? And how do we stop our successors from pushing that line even further, and for their own nefarious ends?

   But there is no freedom without limits, no matter how difficult it is to define the borders. Of that much I am certain. There has to be line, because the consequences of not having that line are worse than most any lines that you draw. Sometimes freedom of information is merely the freedom to make impressionable idiots into *violent* impressionable idiots. And the world is full of them, overflowing even…

7. Simon Columbus on March 11th, 2008 9:55 pm

   Andrew is totally right with what he wrote about “Mein Kampf” not being banned in Germany. In fact, there’s a German comedian (of Turkish descent), Serdar Somuncu, who reads “Mein Kampf” as a part of his show.

   Much more controversial is the ban on “denying Holocaust”, which can be punished with a jail sentence up to two years. This is something one can see as a abuse of freedom of expression, especially as this law is frequently used against neo-Nazi activists.

8. Andrew Brehm on March 12th, 2008 9:48 am

   “In fact, there’s a German comedian (of Turkish descent), Serdar Somuncu, who reads “Mein Kampf” as a part of his show.”

   Yes. I know him. He’s great.

   When he was on tour in Saxony (an east-German state), his show was interrupted by neo-Nazis while he was quoting “Mein Kampf”.

   He invited the protesters on the stage (they followed his orders and stood exactly as he instructed them), and then walked through the audience stating “Where was I? Right, I was quoting Hitler… Hitler writes here in chapter 2, People and Race…”. While quoting he imitated the ignorant author.

   http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjUEPhv3cWo

   At the end he asked the protesters whether they would go away or whether they would stand for the rest of the evening. He said he accepts their protest and one of the young idiots told him that he doesn’t accept it at all and something about Saxony which I couldn’t understand because neo-Nazis usually speak very bad German.

9. Don Cox on March 12th, 2008 12:04 pm

   You can download the book, or you can buy it from Amazon, but I bet you can’t read it. It is one of the most unreadable books ever written.

   Much more readable is “Hitler’s Table Talk”, consisting of transcripts of his evening monologues mostly from 1941 and 1942. If you want to understand Hitler, or bad man in general, this is a must read.

10. Andrew Brehm on March 12th, 2008 12:44 pm

    “It is one of the most unreadable books ever written.”

    What did you expect? The man was a failed artist. His German skills were terrible. In fact, I cannot understand how anybody listening to him could make out what he was trying to say at all.

    My father has an old record with a Hitler speech and I remember that I couldn’t understand a word, and it was not due to the sound quality.

11. Halalhippie on March 12th, 2008 9:59 pm

    Roman: “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was, in its day, sold freely as a legitimate and correct work that was nothing but the truth.” I’m sure some have taken it as face value. I’ve never read it but I believe it to be anti-Jewish propaganda fabricated by Czarist Russia. I see it as a historical document about propaganda.

    If the book is banned, some conspiracy crazies will see it as PROOF that the Evil Zionists ™ control media. If it’s freely available it will be exposed as the pathetic hate-propaganda it is. In the ideal world, that is.. I’m sure there’s an Arab or two out there who will take it at face value.

    And Da Vinci Code ? It was banned in India and Egypt IIRC. EVERY book will insult SOMEONE, who’s to censor ?

12. Andrew Brehm on March 13th, 2008 9:42 am

    “If the book is banned, some conspiracy crazies will see it as PROOF that the Evil Zionists ™ control media.”

    The crazies will always think that the EZ control the media. It doesn’t matter whether they do or to what extent they do.

    “And Da Vinci Code? It was banned in India and Egypt IIRC. EVERY book will insult SOMEONE, who’s to censor?”

    Did anybody believe that the Da Vinci Code was the truth and murdered someone based on that belief?

13. Roman Kalik on March 13th, 2008 1:08 pm

    Did anybody believe that the Da Vinci Code was the truth and murdered someone based on that belief?

    For that matter, did the Da Vinci Code encourage people to view a certain segment of the population as evil manipulating bloodsucking thieves who must be cleansed from society?

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