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| Europe |
| More on the Rising Popularity of Hitler in Europe |
| 2005-03-19 |
| 90 years after publication, Hitler's "Mein Kampf" -- widely seen as the main source of Nazi ideology -- has been ruffling feathers all over Europe in recent months. In Turkey, it's even become a surprise best-seller. Adolf Hitler's infamous -- and notoriously badly-written --autobiography has sold more than 50,000 copies in Turkey since January, and is currently number four on the best-seller list drawn up by the D&R bookstore chain. "'Mein Kampf' has always been a sleeper, a secret best-seller," said Oguz Tektas of Mefisto editions, one of several publishing houses to re-release the book Hitler wrote while in jail in 1925. "We took it out of the closet for purely commercial reasons." His company's sole aim, he stressed, was "to make money," which they did -- by slashing the cover price. "Mein Kampf," published by about a dozen companies over the years, always sold at a fairly steady annual rate of about 20,000 at some 20 New Turkish Lira (11.3 euros or $15) a copy. The Mefisto edition retails at 3.3 euros ($4.5) and sold 23,000 copies in two months. The readership? "Those who want to know about a man who wreaked death and destruction on the world," Tektas said. "Mostly young people," said Sami Kilic, owner of the Emre publishing house, another company on the "Mein Kampf" bandwagon, which sold 26,000 copies from a run of 31,000 released in late January. "The times we live in have a definite impact on sales," Kilic said. "It is an astonishing phenomenon." He linked interest in the book to Turkey's bid to join the European Union, seen by the right-wing as a desertion of national values, presumably not the reason for is popularity in Turkey! and rising sentiment against the United States and its ally Israel over the treatment they are perceived here as meting out to the Iraqis and the Palestinians, respectively. and how did that perception get shaped, do you think??? "This book, which does not contain a single ounce of humanity, unfortunately appears to be taken seriously in this country," political scientist Dogu Ergil complained in a recent newspaper interview. He agreed that the unexpected popularity of "Mein Kampf" in the Muslim-majority country has its roots in a rise in anti-American sentiment sparked by the occupation of Iraq and anti-Semitism resulting from Israel's Palestinian policy. "Nazism, buried in the dustbin of history in Europe, is beginning to re-emerge in Turkey," he warned. Silvyo Ovadya, the head of Turkey's Jewish community, said he was "troubled" by the book's popularity, telling AFP he was "astonished a 500-page book that sows the seeds of racism and anti-Semitism can sell at such a low price." But, he said, his complaints to the publishers have gone unheeded. Most of Turkey's 22,000 Jews -- out of a total population of 71 million -- live in Istanbul, where there are 18 synagogues. In November 2003, two of them were targeted by car bombs blamed on an Al-Qaeda linked organisation, killing 25 people and wounding hundreds of others. Turkey isn't the only country where "Mein Kampf" is causing a stir. Just weeks after Polish publication of the book made headlines in Bavaria, which holds the rights, the Czech Supreme Court acquitted Michal Zitko, a publisher who had been convicted of supporting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights by publishing a Czech translation of "Mein Kampf." Last January, Prague City Court gave him a three-year suspended sentence, which was then overturned by the higher court in Brno. Supreme Court chairman Eduard Teschler concluded there was no evidence that Zitko actively supported the movement, for example, by recruiting supporters. Meanwhile, the general prosecutor's office of Azerbaijan last December investigated the publication of "Mein Kampf" by Avaz Zeynalli , the editor of an Azeri newspaper. ah yes, the Azeris. bastion of human rights, they are. just ask the armenians According to Zeynalli, the investigation was prompted by a complaint by the Israeli embassy in Baku and the Azeri Jewish community. The editor was questioned by officials with the Azeri interior ministry's anti-organized crime department. Zeynalli said he had translated "Mein Kampf" into Azeri from the Turkish language and had placed an order with a printing house for the publication of 300 copies, 100 of which had already been printed. He argued that the publication of "Mein Kampf," which openly advocates extermining the Jews, was not banned in Azerbaijan. |
| Posted by:anon |
| #14 He linked interest in the book to Turkey's bid to join the European Union, seen by the right-wing as a desertion of national values, and rising sentiment against the United States and its ally Israel over the treatment they are perceived here as meting out to the Iraqis and the Palestinians, respectively. "This book, which does not contain a single ounce of humanity, unfortunately appears to be taken seriously in this country," political scientist Dogu Ergil complained in a recent newspaper interview. He agreed that the unexpected popularity of "Mein Kampf" in the Muslim-majority country has its roots in a rise in anti-American sentiment sparked by the occupation of Iraq and anti-Semitism resulting from Israel's Palestinian policy. So, is there a correlation between Anti-americanism and facination with Nazis? Seems obvious when it comes to Anti-semitism. Or have they fallen victim to the leftist "Bush===Hitler", and they got the book to figure out what Bush is going to do next? Will their brains explode when they try to reconcile what they read in it with Bush's stated intention (and action) to SPREAD democracy. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2005-03-19 9:26:01 PM |
| #13 You forgot Poland |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-03-19 7:19:07 PM |
| #12 Ok, Hitler is popular again and Bush == Hitler. So why isn't George W a Euro-Hero? Does he need to conquer a few more countries first? Or invade France? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2005-03-19 7:11:38 PM |
| #11 Joe? Have you met Aris? "EU plans for the future - discuss" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-19 6:19:12 PM |
| #10 SOunds like deep down he believes the Euros are waiting for someone to conquer them all and make them into the USA of Eurasia, or Federal Union of Eurasia, and are severely lamenting why Caesar,Charlemagne, William, Henry, Otto, Churchill,Bonaparte,................Attila, Ghengis, and Vlad Dracuil, even Adolf, didn't do it!? Ala Bill Clinton and Clintonism, "just because we said we don't want to be America or like America doesn't mean we meant it, you b******"! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2005-03-19 6:10:49 PM |
| #9 The Mefisto edition .... That's positively Faustian. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2005-03-19 5:27:50 PM |
| #8 chances are the Turks aren't reading it either. Think 'Mao's little red book', just a cool thing to carry into the Mosque to show you're pure |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-19 1:58:00 PM |
| #7 Turkey is not Europe. Good luck with Mein Kampf. The Germans never read it back then. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-03-19 1:37:56 PM |
| #6 That's a pretty broad brush you're using there, Glereper. Europe isn't doing a hell of a whole lot to dispel that notion. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-19 1:32:49 PM |
| #5 You exaggerate, GC. It's only a little over 1700 years in Europe, after all. For the Turks, however, this kind of antisemitism is fairly new, an artifact of Islamicism, as far as I can tell, evidenced by the fact that so many are purchasing Mein Kampf to find out what it's all about. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-03-19 12:11:06 PM |
| #4 That's a pretty broad brush you're using there, Glereper. |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-03-19 11:52:03 AM |
| #3 It is hard to erase 2000 yrs of antisemitism from the hearts of the Euros. The idea of a Jew actually defending himself is anathema to Euros. They only Jews they can tolerate are those in "the Fiddler" or those that Hitler killed. Same goes for Turkeys and their Islamist Gov. |
| Posted by: Glereper Craviter7929 2005-03-19 11:45:39 AM |
| #2 90 years after publication, Hitler's "Mein Kampf" You're off by ten years. |
| Posted by: penguin 2005-03-19 11:03:38 AM |
| #1 Doesn't "kampf" translate from German to "jihad" in Arabic? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2005-03-19 9:49:35 AM |