My Struggle By Mein Kampf
Bethany Mullins-Good
Tyler Johnson’s 2nd period class
Book Report #2
April 20, 2017
Mein Kampf – “My Struggle Mein Kampf is a German writing published by Adolf Hitler in 1925. It outlined his ideas about political ideology and his future plans for Germany. Hitler wrote this book while being imprisoned for what he considered to be “political crimes”. He was put in jail a short time after his failed attempt to overthrow the regional government of Bavaria in November 1923, during what is now known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler was largely unknown before his jail time, but after being admitted, he gained immediate notoriety from the German and international press. The court sentenced …show more content…
him to complete five years of prison time, but he only served eight months. During this time, he wrote Mein Kampf, in hopes of gaining recognition and paying for his fees. Main Kampf, recognized as “My Struggle” in English, has two volumes. The first edition was released in 1925, and the second edition was released late the following year. In this autobiography, Hitler used the main thesis of “the Jewish peril”, which explains a Jewish conspiracy to gain world leadership. He showed very anti-Semitic views all throughout his book. Adolph also expressed other views on how “Aryan” races are inferior, and how Germany needed to regain lost land, control population growth, and increase lebensraum. He also mentioned how he wanted to conquer East Europe and Russia, and strengthen the German government. Hitler hoped that through this broad novel he could advance his career and political agenda. In the first volume of his book, Hitler summarizes his early days growing up near the border of Germany and Austria.
He describes his background, aspirations, and the stress he felt when he was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps. As a child, Adolf became interested in the arts but was discouraged by his father, who wanted him to join the civil service later on in life. The two had a conflict because of their different goals for Hitler’s future career. "It was simply inconceivable to him that I might reject what had become the content of his whole life" – a quote directly from Mein Kampf. As Adolf grew older, history became his favorite subject. He became very intrigued by German history, and began to notice the inconsistency of race (especially with the German-Austria people). He started to form a strong sense of patriotism towards Germany, even believing that Germans - specifically the Aryan race - were somehow made of better blood than any other race. As an example, he wrote "All the human culture, all the results of art, science, and technology that we see before us today, are almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan..." Hitler started mentally dividing people into higher or lower groups based on physical appearance and ethnicity, leading him to discriminate against non-Germans. Hitler started reading about the theories of Karl Marx and of the Jewish race. As he thought the Aryans to be a superior group of people, he deemed the Jewish and Slavic speaking people inferior. He conceived a hatred for Jewish people, which fueled his future plans. This volume goes on to explain how Hitler had meetings with Social Democrats, meetings that made him angry and confused with the way others handled politics. His hatred for what he considered “bad” politics and Jews only grew. He soon decided that he wanted to change Germany to make it purer by only focusing on growing the Aryan race that he believed was “made of the best blood”. This
belief of his later caused The Holocaust. In the second volume of his novel, Hitler begins planning his domination. He discusses long term goals for his country. One example being when Adolf writes about conquests he thinks need to be made in order to gain lebensraum for the Aryan brotherhood, which he considers himself to be a part of. Hitler says the land is needed in order to assure German safety and progression. He writes that land the Aryans deserve will be taken by force. The areas he is referring to are east of Germany. These areas include Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and large parts of Russia. At the Slavic’s expense, Adolf plans to gain their land in order to cultivate food and provide an area for the growing population of “pure” Germans. According to his orders, the local Slavic’s were to be removed, executed, or enslaved. But first, to achieve this, he says that Germany must battle and defeat its past enemy - France – to avenge the German defeat in World War I and secure the western border. He attaches most of the blame for the defeat to Jewish conspirators, in an even more threatening tone. His hatred of communism, views about foreign policy, and suggestions on alliances were also brought to light in the second edition. Furthermore, Hitler discussed the methods he planned to use to gain the support of the German populace, including a massive propaganda campaign and the rebuilding of the German army. Upon its release, Mein Kampf was not a best seller. Most of its initial buyers were either faithful members of the Nazi Party, or members of the general public who wrongly expected a scandalous autobiography. The book sold roughly 10,000 copies in its first year. However, popularity grew after the Nazi party gained more seats in the German parliament. In 1930, the Nazi’s number of seats went from 12 to 107 out of about 500 total seats. In 1932, they had captured 230 seats, becoming the largest political party represented in parliament at that time. When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, sales of the book’s two volumes went up to 250,000 copies. During the first year of his tenure as chancellor, sales of the full edition eclipsed the one million mark. Its sales became parallel with the growing number of Nazi’s. Adolf became a multi-millionaire from the book profits alone. The popularity of the Mein Kampf caused it to become a ritual to give every newly married couple a copy. To increase sales even more, Nazi propaganda praising Hitler increased immensely. Braille and other special versions of the novel were created. The publisher authorized the translation of the book into many languages, like English. As Adolf Hitler pushed to become the ruler of Germany, the Nazi Party grew into a mass movement and controlled the entire area of Germany through their totalitarian government from 1933 to 1935. Hitler had an intense hatred for the Jewish people and he considered them all to be very weak. He wanted to have all control and all power over the whole entire nation. In the end, Hitler was responsible for over 55 million deaths. By the end of World War II a little over 20 million of the population were German and the rest were the Jews. Hitler knew he had so much power and could do what he wanted so he done all he could during this time. Hitler created the Holocaust and harshly punished the Jews. Anything that went wrong during this period was blamed on the Jews. Hitler was now allowed to execute these Jews for no reason at all and that’s exactly what he did. Over 6 million Jews were executed under Hitler’s rule for doing absolutely nothing at all. The totalitarian government caused many people under rule to be rude and cruel and encouraged the leaders to be very cruel and have terrible punishments. Due to Hitler’s Holocaust, every two out of three of the European Jews were murdered. The Nazi’s used the euthanasia program to kill off any mentally and physically sick patients. The euthanasia program predated the genocide of the European Jews. Between 1941 and 1944 the German officials had deported millions of the Jews from Germany from occupied territories, and from ghettos all the way to the killing centers, which they also called the “extermination camps.” On May 7, 1945, the German forces surrendered to their allies. World War II had come to an end. After the Holocaust, many of the survivors from the camps found shelter in DP camps that were controlled by the Allied powers. Between 1948 and 1951 almost 700,000 of the Jews emigrated to Israel, also including the 136,000 Jews that were from Europe. More of the Jewish people came to the United States and the other surrounding nations. The last DP Camp was shut down for good in 1957 After the defeat of Germany in May 1945, at the end of World War II, the Allied powers began removing Nazi propaganda. They exterminated propaganda from universities, stores, buildings, city streets, and libraries. According to the Allies, Germany was to be ridden of militarism and Nazism, so that it could be formed into a democratic society that would not threaten world peace. Officials under allied countries also removed Mein Kampf and other Nazi texts from circulation and prohibited any republication of the writings. The copyright for Hitler’s book went to the Bavarian government, who prevented the reissuing of it in Germany, with the exception of the English-language versions. Although efforts were strong, every copy of Mein Kampf could not be erased. Small amounts of copies were reprinted and a virtual copy was uploaded on the internet. The copyright expired on December 31, 2015, ending the Bavarian’s control over the production and sale of the book. After this date, sales mysteriously went back up. Mein Kampf still remains one of the most remembered and widely published books in all of history. The impact it had on the earth is tremendous. This book was a warning to the world of Hitler’s plans for genocide and war. Many historians say that if more people had read this book outside of Germany, World War II could’ve been recognized and prevented, and the lives of many could have been saved. “My Struggle” can be a reminder of how racism and hatred can cause tragedies, like wars. Now, there is hope that it can serve as a learning tool for future generations to prevent such disasters.
-political crimes: which prejudice the interests of the state, its government, or the political system.
-Bavaria: A state in Southern Germany, formally an independent kingdom
- Beer Hall Putsch: A failed coup attempt by the Nazi Party. Hitler was the leader, along with Erich Ludendorff and other kampfbund leaders. They wanted to seize power in Munich, Bavaria. This took place on the eighth and ninth of November in the year of 1923.
-the Jewish Peril: Jewish conspiracies
-Anti-Semitic: hostile or prejudice against Jewish people
-Aryan: denoting people and speaking an Indo-European language who invaded northern India
- lebensraum: the state or nation believes that this is necessary for its natural development as a country. This is especially associated with the Nazis of Germany
- The Holocaust: The Holocaust was a slaughter and destruction on mass scale. Mostly caused by nuclear war or a fire.
- totalitarian government: A political system where a state will recognize no limits to the authority and they will strive to regulate every aspect of a personal and a private life.
-Allied Powers: The four nations that recurred as the main forces of the Allied Powers in both of the World Wars. These included: France, Russia/USSR, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
-The Nazi Party: A fascist party also led by Adolf Hitler and was one of the main parties in Germany. Lasted from 1933 to 1945. Many people may also know this as the “Third Reich.” This is what triggered the start of World War II whenever the party decided to invade Poland.
-euthanasia program: a program used to kill off the mentally and physically sick people.
-extermination camps: where they put Jews and killed them, especially in gassing facilities.
-gassing facilities: where the Nazi’s used poisonous gas to kill of a great number of Jews; part of the mass murder that took place in the camps in 1939, with the killing of especially patients with mental disabilities.
-DP Camps: Camps that were established for the survivors and refugees.
Tyler Johnson’s 2nd period class
Book Report #2
April 20, 2017
Mein Kampf – “My Struggle Mein Kampf is a German writing published by Adolf Hitler in 1925. It outlined his ideas about political ideology and his future plans for Germany. Hitler wrote this book while being imprisoned for what he considered to be “political crimes”. He was put in jail a short time after his failed attempt to overthrow the regional government of Bavaria in November 1923, during what is now known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler was largely unknown before his jail time, but after being admitted, he gained immediate notoriety from the German and international press. The court sentenced …show more content…
him to complete five years of prison time, but he only served eight months. During this time, he wrote Mein Kampf, in hopes of gaining recognition and paying for his fees. Main Kampf, recognized as “My Struggle” in English, has two volumes. The first edition was released in 1925, and the second edition was released late the following year. In this autobiography, Hitler used the main thesis of “the Jewish peril”, which explains a Jewish conspiracy to gain world leadership. He showed very anti-Semitic views all throughout his book. Adolph also expressed other views on how “Aryan” races are inferior, and how Germany needed to regain lost land, control population growth, and increase lebensraum. He also mentioned how he wanted to conquer East Europe and Russia, and strengthen the German government. Hitler hoped that through this broad novel he could advance his career and political agenda. In the first volume of his book, Hitler summarizes his early days growing up near the border of Germany and Austria.
He describes his background, aspirations, and the stress he felt when he was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps. As a child, Adolf became interested in the arts but was discouraged by his father, who wanted him to join the civil service later on in life. The two had a conflict because of their different goals for Hitler’s future career. "It was simply inconceivable to him that I might reject what had become the content of his whole life" – a quote directly from Mein Kampf. As Adolf grew older, history became his favorite subject. He became very intrigued by German history, and began to notice the inconsistency of race (especially with the German-Austria people). He started to form a strong sense of patriotism towards Germany, even believing that Germans - specifically the Aryan race - were somehow made of better blood than any other race. As an example, he wrote "All the human culture, all the results of art, science, and technology that we see before us today, are almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan..." Hitler started mentally dividing people into higher or lower groups based on physical appearance and ethnicity, leading him to discriminate against non-Germans. Hitler started reading about the theories of Karl Marx and of the Jewish race. As he thought the Aryans to be a superior group of people, he deemed the Jewish and Slavic speaking people inferior. He conceived a hatred for Jewish people, which fueled his future plans. This volume goes on to explain how Hitler had meetings with Social Democrats, meetings that made him angry and confused with the way others handled politics. His hatred for what he considered “bad” politics and Jews only grew. He soon decided that he wanted to change Germany to make it purer by only focusing on growing the Aryan race that he believed was “made of the best blood”. This
belief of his later caused The Holocaust. In the second volume of his novel, Hitler begins planning his domination. He discusses long term goals for his country. One example being when Adolf writes about conquests he thinks need to be made in order to gain lebensraum for the Aryan brotherhood, which he considers himself to be a part of. Hitler says the land is needed in order to assure German safety and progression. He writes that land the Aryans deserve will be taken by force. The areas he is referring to are east of Germany. These areas include Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and large parts of Russia. At the Slavic’s expense, Adolf plans to gain their land in order to cultivate food and provide an area for the growing population of “pure” Germans. According to his orders, the local Slavic’s were to be removed, executed, or enslaved. But first, to achieve this, he says that Germany must battle and defeat its past enemy - France – to avenge the German defeat in World War I and secure the western border. He attaches most of the blame for the defeat to Jewish conspirators, in an even more threatening tone. His hatred of communism, views about foreign policy, and suggestions on alliances were also brought to light in the second edition. Furthermore, Hitler discussed the methods he planned to use to gain the support of the German populace, including a massive propaganda campaign and the rebuilding of the German army. Upon its release, Mein Kampf was not a best seller. Most of its initial buyers were either faithful members of the Nazi Party, or members of the general public who wrongly expected a scandalous autobiography. The book sold roughly 10,000 copies in its first year. However, popularity grew after the Nazi party gained more seats in the German parliament. In 1930, the Nazi’s number of seats went from 12 to 107 out of about 500 total seats. In 1932, they had captured 230 seats, becoming the largest political party represented in parliament at that time. When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, sales of the book’s two volumes went up to 250,000 copies. During the first year of his tenure as chancellor, sales of the full edition eclipsed the one million mark. Its sales became parallel with the growing number of Nazi’s. Adolf became a multi-millionaire from the book profits alone. The popularity of the Mein Kampf caused it to become a ritual to give every newly married couple a copy. To increase sales even more, Nazi propaganda praising Hitler increased immensely. Braille and other special versions of the novel were created. The publisher authorized the translation of the book into many languages, like English. As Adolf Hitler pushed to become the ruler of Germany, the Nazi Party grew into a mass movement and controlled the entire area of Germany through their totalitarian government from 1933 to 1935. Hitler had an intense hatred for the Jewish people and he considered them all to be very weak. He wanted to have all control and all power over the whole entire nation. In the end, Hitler was responsible for over 55 million deaths. By the end of World War II a little over 20 million of the population were German and the rest were the Jews. Hitler knew he had so much power and could do what he wanted so he done all he could during this time. Hitler created the Holocaust and harshly punished the Jews. Anything that went wrong during this period was blamed on the Jews. Hitler was now allowed to execute these Jews for no reason at all and that’s exactly what he did. Over 6 million Jews were executed under Hitler’s rule for doing absolutely nothing at all. The totalitarian government caused many people under rule to be rude and cruel and encouraged the leaders to be very cruel and have terrible punishments. Due to Hitler’s Holocaust, every two out of three of the European Jews were murdered. The Nazi’s used the euthanasia program to kill off any mentally and physically sick patients. The euthanasia program predated the genocide of the European Jews. Between 1941 and 1944 the German officials had deported millions of the Jews from Germany from occupied territories, and from ghettos all the way to the killing centers, which they also called the “extermination camps.” On May 7, 1945, the German forces surrendered to their allies. World War II had come to an end. After the Holocaust, many of the survivors from the camps found shelter in DP camps that were controlled by the Allied powers. Between 1948 and 1951 almost 700,000 of the Jews emigrated to Israel, also including the 136,000 Jews that were from Europe. More of the Jewish people came to the United States and the other surrounding nations. The last DP Camp was shut down for good in 1957 After the defeat of Germany in May 1945, at the end of World War II, the Allied powers began removing Nazi propaganda. They exterminated propaganda from universities, stores, buildings, city streets, and libraries. According to the Allies, Germany was to be ridden of militarism and Nazism, so that it could be formed into a democratic society that would not threaten world peace. Officials under allied countries also removed Mein Kampf and other Nazi texts from circulation and prohibited any republication of the writings. The copyright for Hitler’s book went to the Bavarian government, who prevented the reissuing of it in Germany, with the exception of the English-language versions. Although efforts were strong, every copy of Mein Kampf could not be erased. Small amounts of copies were reprinted and a virtual copy was uploaded on the internet. The copyright expired on December 31, 2015, ending the Bavarian’s control over the production and sale of the book. After this date, sales mysteriously went back up. Mein Kampf still remains one of the most remembered and widely published books in all of history. The impact it had on the earth is tremendous. This book was a warning to the world of Hitler’s plans for genocide and war. Many historians say that if more people had read this book outside of Germany, World War II could’ve been recognized and prevented, and the lives of many could have been saved. “My Struggle” can be a reminder of how racism and hatred can cause tragedies, like wars. Now, there is hope that it can serve as a learning tool for future generations to prevent such disasters.
-political crimes: which prejudice the interests of the state, its government, or the political system.
-Bavaria: A state in Southern Germany, formally an independent kingdom
- Beer Hall Putsch: A failed coup attempt by the Nazi Party. Hitler was the leader, along with Erich Ludendorff and other kampfbund leaders. They wanted to seize power in Munich, Bavaria. This took place on the eighth and ninth of November in the year of 1923.
-the Jewish Peril: Jewish conspiracies
-Anti-Semitic: hostile or prejudice against Jewish people
-Aryan: denoting people and speaking an Indo-European language who invaded northern India
- lebensraum: the state or nation believes that this is necessary for its natural development as a country. This is especially associated with the Nazis of Germany
- The Holocaust: The Holocaust was a slaughter and destruction on mass scale. Mostly caused by nuclear war or a fire.
- totalitarian government: A political system where a state will recognize no limits to the authority and they will strive to regulate every aspect of a personal and a private life.
-Allied Powers: The four nations that recurred as the main forces of the Allied Powers in both of the World Wars. These included: France, Russia/USSR, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
-The Nazi Party: A fascist party also led by Adolf Hitler and was one of the main parties in Germany. Lasted from 1933 to 1945. Many people may also know this as the “Third Reich.” This is what triggered the start of World War II whenever the party decided to invade Poland.
-euthanasia program: a program used to kill off the mentally and physically sick people.
-extermination camps: where they put Jews and killed them, especially in gassing facilities.
-gassing facilities: where the Nazi’s used poisonous gas to kill of a great number of Jews; part of the mass murder that took place in the camps in 1939, with the killing of especially patients with mental disabilities.
-DP Camps: Camps that were established for the survivors and refugees.