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Copyright Expires On Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf
HughPickens.com writes: Adolf Hitler's Nazi manifesto Mein Kampf was originally printed in 1925 — eight years before Hitler came to power. After Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945, the Allied forces handed the copyright to the book to the state of Bavaria who refused to allow the book to be reprinted to prevent incitement of hatred. Now BBC reports that under European copyright law, the rights of an author of a literary or artistic work runs for the life of the author and for 70 years after his death — in Hitler's case on 30 April 1945, when he shot himself in his bunker in Berlin, so for the first time in 70 years, Mein Kampf will be available to buy in Germany.
Authorizing the book's release into the public domain has been a tortuous process. In 2012 it was agreed, after much consultation between Bavarian authorities and representatives of Jewish and Roma communities, that a scholarly edition should be planned in an attempt to demystify the book. Munich's Institute of Contemporary History will publish the new edition with thousands of academic notes, will aim to show that Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is incoherent and badly written, rather than powerful or seductive. From the original book's 1,000 pages, the publisher has produced a two-volume book that is twice as long as the original, with 3,700 annotations. Christian Hartmann, one of the team of five historians who spent several years working on the academic edition, described his relief at being able to analyze the text, even if he felt in need of regularly airing his tiny Munich office in order to cope with the task. "It is a real feeling of triumph, to be able to pick over this rubbish and then to debunk it bit by bit."
Authorizing the book's release into the public domain has been a tortuous process. In 2012 it was agreed, after much consultation between Bavarian authorities and representatives of Jewish and Roma communities, that a scholarly edition should be planned in an attempt to demystify the book. Munich's Institute of Contemporary History will publish the new edition with thousands of academic notes, will aim to show that Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is incoherent and badly written, rather than powerful or seductive. From the original book's 1,000 pages, the publisher has produced a two-volume book that is twice as long as the original, with 3,700 annotations. Christian Hartmann, one of the team of five historians who spent several years working on the academic edition, described his relief at being able to analyze the text, even if he felt in need of regularly airing his tiny Munich office in order to cope with the task. "It is a real feeling of triumph, to be able to pick over this rubbish and then to debunk it bit by bit."
If only we could apply this to other works too... I'd love it if all copies of The Communist Manifesto came pre-Fisked. It would help people from getting confused their first year in college.
That, and the Quran, Hadiths, Tafseers and Sira - the 'sacred' books of Islam. That is, take all these works, annotate them heavily w/ the critiques of Ali Sina, Srjda Trifkovic, Bat Yeor and others who have studied it from something other than a devotional approach, and then release it. Outlaw the original versions of Bukhari, Ibn Khatir, Ibn Ishaq, Jalalayn, Mawdidi and so on. It would help decontaminate the mind of today's Nazis i.e. non-agnostic Muslims.
"Mein Kampf" was arguably a derivative work itself. There were a lot of others writing similar racialist pamphlets or books in the late 19th- and early 20th- centuries.
Such as Henry Ford. Much of Mein Kampf is plagiarized from a German translation of Ford's The International Jew.
However, nobody ever speaks much about the horrible attrocities (sic) the other countries commited (sic) during the war: [list]
Really? Fucking Really?
The fact that you were able to rattle examples of other atrocities right off the top of your head means that yes, there are a /lot/ of books and other media about the other atrocities since you have read them.
Let's see, what can I find on just one atrocity done by the Japanese during WWII
1-12 of 4,299 results for Books :
"bataan death march"
On Amazon alone.
>unfair to the nazis
Please. Fuck. Off. And. Go. Back. To. Stormfront.
Please.
--
BMO
Mah, worth a read. As is Das Kapital and other "bad" books. I found it amusing. A bit repetitive. But every once and a while for a few pages I'd totally agree with him then it would be "because of the dirty jews" and I'd be thinking what wait, what?
Example: he sees it as the job of the state to ensure that there are sufficient resources for the populous. Foreign/non-contiguous colonies aren't the answer because they are hard to defend and tend to revolt/separate. So you need to expand in your own boundaries. Germany being the largest population logically then should fight to have the largest landmass in europe. Also people of similar cultures and language should group together (hence Austria). A bit aggressive for my tastes but logically consistent. But then as mentioned, go off and blame all the problems on Jews and such, seems very tangential. Anyways worth a read.
It perhaps sucks to be the author is such cases but I think at some level books that have truly historical significance shouldn't be copyrightable. It is one thing for the latest Star Wars movie or whatever, regardless of what they'd like you to think, not having seen it wouldn't be a great loss to you. You might miss out on a few inside jokes but your political/humanistic/whatever you want to call it growth wouldn't be stunted. Of particular obvious (to me) example for things that shouldn't be copyrightable: religious texts Scientology, translations of the Bible, etc for example. You shouldn't be considered a tax exempt charity because you are "working for the benefit of humanity" while charging a fee for the right to print your propaganda. They shouldn't be tax exempt at all IMO, but if they are they definitely shouldn't be able to prevent you from getting a hold of their books as cheaply as possible (your tax dollars have indirectly already supported their cause).