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| The Official 1939 Edition |
I contributed the following to a "Spiked" discussion on the subject "Germans Must Be Free to Read Mein Kampf"
Germans Must Be Free to Read Mein Kampf
When I was a teenager in the 1960s, I came across a shortish English version of Mein Kampf - a green hard cover book about 250 pages. It was probably printed in the 1930s for Hitler's English speaking admirers. I read it- or some of it - and it must have made an impression because I still recall two key points he made. (Incidentally, I was already a dyed-in-the-wool reactionary, so I won't blame that on Der Fuhrer).
The first point was Hitler explaining that ordinary Party members can become confused and discouraged if they perceive that their opponents represent a wide spectrum of public opinion. Therefore all opposition must be seen as coming from ONE demonic source - hence the Jewish/Bolshevik Conspiracy I suppose. The second point I recall was that, while Hitler was a great admirer of Bismark, he criticized his hero for conducting a campaign against the Catholic Church in Germany (the Kulturkampf in the 1870s.).Even then I realized that Hitler was NOT "tolerant" in religious matters; it was simply that Racial hatred was the real issue for him and Religious strife was a diversion (same for Class hatred - he didn't hate the German Proletariat).
I have written a lot about the modern day Kulturkampf against the Catholic Church and I believe Hitler's insights are definitely still valid. FOR EXAMPLE there are scores of religious orders and congregations in Ireland but every single allegation of child murder has been directed against the Christian Brothers (male) or the Sisters of Mercy (female). Moreover ALL of the allegations that relate to periods when no child died of ANY cause, have been directed against the Christian Brothers alone. I have coined the phrase "Murder of the Undead" in relation to the latter claims and I think the accusation should be officially recognised as the "liberal" equivalent of the Jewish/Bolshevik Conspiracy theory.
I did not need an anodyne and annotated version of Hitler's masterpiece to reach the above conclusion!
[The following is a 2006 summary I made of most of the child-killing allegations. (At the time I forgot about the one directed at the Sisters of Mercy 10 years previously.)
I have an updated version of the 2006 letter here:
