What Does ‘Mein Kampf’ Mean? Adolf Hitler’s Notorious Book Now Selling Out In Germany

“Mein Kampf,” Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, has long been viewed as a hateful manifesto, prompting its ban from several countries since the end of World War II. Germany had banned reprints for more than 70 years, but an annotated version of the text was republished in 2015 and has now become a best-seller in Germany with 85,000 copies sold, the book’s publisher announced.

The Institute for Contemporary History of Munich (IfZ) said it initially printed 4,000 copies of “Mein Kampf,” translated into English as “My Struggle,” but now it’s preparing a sixth run of printing with English and French editions also in the mix.

The publisher said those buying the book were “customers interested in politics and history as well as educators” and not “reactionaries or right-wing radicals." IfZ’s director Andreas Wirchsing also added that the widespread re-release of the book hasn’t led to a sudden rebirth of Hitler’s staunchly racist and fascist politics.

Those who did purchase the newest version, however, won’t see it in its original text. The latest version is now more than 2,000 pages long due to heavy annotations to put Hitler’s words in better historical context rather than just regurgitating hate speech.

German books stores have not been promoting “Mein Kampf’s” return to the shelves. Book outlets were reportedly hiding it in their stores, ordering maybe only one copy, and many didn’t advertise its re-release, The Washington Post reported.

Many critics maintain that continued publication of the book would only strengthen right-wing extremists.

“This book is too dangerous for the general public,” a library historian told The Post in 2015.

The book, which contains Hitler's idea to overtake Germany in the 1930s and eventually most of Europe, was first published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926, but Hitler first began to write the more than 700-page book while he was in prison in 1923.