Annotated edition of ‘Mein Kampf’ debuts on German bestseller list

In Germany, a new annotated edition of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf will debut on the bestseller charts, reports the Guardian. The new critical version published by the Munich Institute for Contemporary History is the first edition of the title to be available for sale in Germany since the Second World War, and will land in 20th spot on the nonfiction bestseller chart in news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday. Running at more than 2,000 pages, the new edition is being sold for €59 (AS92), and includes approximately 3,700 scholarly annotations, which contributor and historian Christian Hartmann said was included ‘to show how Hitler mixed truths and half-truths with lies—to take the sting out of the propaganda at the same time as laying Nazism bare.’ The Munich Institute for Contemporary History released the title on 8 January, after copyright to Hitler’s text expired in Germany at the end of 2015, with an initial print run of 4,000 copies. The publisher has since said it is planning a second print run after receiving 15,000 orders. As reported by the Bookseller, many German booksellers are not placing the book front of store, with the ‘vast majority’ choosing not to stock the book, but will order it at the customer’s request.

Category: International news