The assertion that"... it remains a fact that he (Hitler) and the
Nazi party have done everything within their power to keep the full contents of this bible of Nazism, MEIN KAMPF, away from the eyes of other peoples" is patently false. An officially sanctioned English translation by James Murphy was published by Hurst & Blackett Ltd. (London) in March, 1939 and stayed in print throughout the war. (This was done by the Nazis to stamp out various pirate translations that began appearing from 1933 onward that violated their copyright. Hitler was sensitive on this issue since it deprived him of his royalties as the copyright holder!) This was before the Book-of-the-Month-Club edition, published jointly by Houghton Mifflin and Reynal & Hitchcock in the US. In fact, the Franz Eher Verlag, the Central Publishing House of the NSDAP, sold the English translation rights outright to Houghton Mifflin in the US and Hurst & Blackett Ltd. and that is why it can still be found in British and American book stores. (The Bavarian State Archives owns the copyright as the receiver for the Franz Eher Verlag's assets for the rest of the world and thus has been able to stop efforts to officially reprint it elsewhere.) It was actively translated and distributed in all of the major languages of the world during the Third Reich and the fact that "the whole world is reading Der Füher's words" was widely touted in Nazi propaganda. O'Reilly is right in his assertion that MEIN KAMPF was not required reading in the US or England, but that never prevented significant sales before, during or after the war. (The current US Houghtin Mifflin edition, translated by Ralph Manheim, is available at $30 hardcover and $20 softcover in just about any book store.) O'Reilly is right about forcing students to read the Koran as a violation of the separation of Church and State. We're certain that the same liberals that support the UNC will be pilloring them in the public and in the courts if they required reading the Holy Bible and the Talmud. As usual with the "PC" crowd, it all depends whose ox is gored.
by Neil O'Connor on August 29, 2002 at 2:32 AM