A Simple Read

A researcher claims that Mein Kampf was widely read in Hitler's Germany. That is not very surprising. What is surprising is the journalist's claim that this is news: "Jahrzehntelang hieß es, kaum ein Deutscher habe sich durch Hitlers schwer verdauliches Werk "Mein Kampf" gequält."

This is a fairly common press trick. You invent a non existing "myth" and you debunk it. I have thought about writing books myself using the same method. "For a long time it has been said that Napoléon won the battle of Waterloo. This book shows that is not the whole truth." or "It is usually said that queen Elizabeth II tried to stage a Soviet coup in Britain. However, this book shows that she surprisingly enough did not."

Mein Kampf is not difficult to read, as the journalist claims above. There are no complicated parts. And there are no secret "revelations". It is just a load of very simple deluded statements. Hitler's attacks on the Jews are stronger than the attack of a Scottish tourist, who claims he cannot stand the French because they do not eat rollmops, but they are not any more sophisticated. There is only one reason to believe that the Germans could not possibly have read Mein Kampf - the book is such a clear proof that Hitler was an idiot, so it is a wonder he was not laughed out of power.

However, man has an unfortunate habit of accepting the leadership of idiots.