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Since the early 1930s, the history of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
's ''
Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Ge ...
'' in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
has been complicated and has been the occasion for controversy. Four full translations were completed before 1945, as well as a number of extracts in newspapers, pamphlets, government documents and unpublished typescripts. Not all of these had official approval from Hitler's publishers,
Eher Verlag Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH (''Franz Eher and Successors, LLC'', usually referred to as the Eher-Verlag (''Eher Publishing'')) was the central publishing house of the Nazi Party and one of the largest book and periodical firms during the Third Rei ...
. My Struggle'' (Dugdale abridgement) was published by
Hurst and Blackett Hurst and Blackett was a publisher founded in 1852 by Henry Blackett (26 May 1825 – 7 March 1871), the grandson of a London shipbuilder, and Daniel William Stow Hurst (17 February 1802 – 6 July 1870). Shortly after the formation of their part ...
in October 1933, who published a cheap Paternoster Library edition in October 1935 (a March 1936 edition said ''14th Thousand'' on the title page). Hurst and Blackett also published ''My Autobiography'' by
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...
. Since the war, the 1943
Ralph Manheim Ralph Frederick Manheim (April 4, 1907 – September 26, 1992) was an American translator of German and French literature, as well as occasional works from Dutch, Polish and Hungarian. He was one of the most acclaimed translators of the 20th cen ...
translation has been the most commonly published translation, though Manheim later expressed reservations about his translation, and other versions have continued to circulate.


Dugdale abridgement

Eher Verlag Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH (''Franz Eher and Successors, LLC'', usually referred to as the Eher-Verlag (''Eher Publishing'')) was the central publishing house of the Nazi Party and one of the largest book and periodical firms during the Third Rei ...
took steps to secure the
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
and trademark rights to ''Mein Kampf'' in the United States in 1925 and 1927. In 1928, the literary agency Curtis Brown, Limited secured the assignment for negotiation of translation rights in the United States and Great Britain, and a German copy was picked up by their employee,
Cherry Kearton Richard Kearton Zoological Society of London, FZS, Royal Photographic Society, FRPS (2 January 1862 – 8 February 1928) and Cherry Kearton (8 July 1871 – 27 September 1940), brothers, were a pair of British naturalists and some of the worl ...
. However, the firm found it difficult to interest publishers in the 782-page book by the leader of what was then an obscure splinter party in Germany. Even after the elections of September 1930, when the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
became the second largest party in the Reichstag, publishers were cautious about investing in a translation, due to the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. The same election inspired
Blanche Dugdale Blanche Elizabeth Campbell "Baffy" Dugdale (née Balfour, 23 May 1880 – 16 May 1948) was a British author and Zionist. Chaim Weizmann called her, "an ardent, lifelong friend of Zionism". Early life She was born Blanche Elizabeth Campbell Balf ...
to urge her husband, E.T.S. Dugdale, to write an abridgement of ''Mein Kampf''. Dugdale began his work on this abridgement in about 1931, but he, too, was unable to find a publisher for it. In early 1933, at the time of the Nazi seizure of power in Germany, Dugdale apparently contacted Eher Verlag, who referred him to Kearton, now working for the firm of
Hurst and Blackett Hurst and Blackett was a publisher founded in 1852 by Henry Blackett (26 May 1825 – 7 March 1871), the grandson of a London shipbuilder, and Daniel William Stow Hurst (17 February 1802 – 6 July 1870). Shortly after the formation of their part ...
. The latter firm was in the process of buying the translation rights from Curtis Brown for a sum of £350. Dugdale offered the abridgment to Hurst & Blackett free of charge, with the stipulation that his name not be used for the British edition.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 6–7 Before the book could go to press, however, Hurst and Blackett were visited by Dr. Hans Wilhelm Thost, London correspondent of the '' Völkischer Beobachter'' and an active member of the "Nazi organization" in London. Although Eher Verlag was satisfied with Dugdale's abridgement, Thost insisted on taking a copy to
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
for further censoring and official sanction. The abridgement was finally published in October 1933. Titled ''My Struggle'' the book was published as the second number in the Paternoster Library. In the United States,
Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
secured the rights to the Dugdale abridgement on 29 July 1933. The only differences between the American and British versions are that the title was translated ''My Struggle'' in the UK and ''My Battle'' in America; and that Dugdale is credited as translator in the US edition, while the British version withheld his name.Barnes and Barnes, p. 2 The original price was $3.00 (). In January 1937, Houghton Mifflin issued a second edition, the first having sold out. The price was lowered to $2.50 (). The publishers replaced the old dust jacket featuring Hitler giving his
salute A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Sco ...
over a black and white background with a new one with panels of black, red, and yellow and a quotation from
Dorothy Thompson Dorothy Celene Thompson (July 9, 1893 – January 30, 1961) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster. She was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934 and was one of the few women news commentators on radio ...
. This led to an official protest by the Nazi government, as the black-red-yellow color scheme was emblematic of the liberal
German revolutions of 1848–49 German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
and the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...
, while the Nazis had returned to the black, white, red of the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
. Thompson's quotation was also objected to, as she had been expelled from the Reich in 1934 after writing unflattering accounts of Hitler. The affair lasted into March 1937. Houghton Mifflin agreed to change the yellow to white, but it is unknown whether the Dorothy Thompson quotation was ever removed.


Sales and royalties

The first printing was a deluxe 18-
shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...
() book that sold out its 5,000 copies and was never reprinted. The popular edition cost 3s. 6d. () and each print run was about 1,750 copies. Below is a table of available sales figures of the Dugdale abridgment in the United Kingdom. "On hand" here means on hand at the beginning of the year. The commission was payable to Curtis Brown as literary agent, and the tax to
Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation t ...
. *In 1938, "slightly over 8,000 were colonial sales". The first printing of the U.S. Dugdale edition was 7,603 copies, of which 290 were given away as complimentary gifts. The royalty on the first printing in the U.S. was 15% or $3,206.45 total. Curtis Brown, literary agent, took 20%, or $641.20 total, and the
IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
took $384.75, leaving Eher Verlag $2,180.37 or RM 5,668. The January 1937 second printing yielded gross royalties of $1,311.38. Once the commission to Curtis Brown and corporation taxes were deducted, this left $891.74 or RM2,318.52.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 82, 148 n. 19 There were three separate printings from August 1938 to March 1939, totaling 14,000; sales totals by 31 March 1939, were 10,345. This yielded gross royalties of $3,879.38 and a new of $2,637.98 or RM6,858.74.


Translations


Murphy translation

The
Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (; RMVP), also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany. The ministry ...
commissioned James Vincent Murphy, who had been employed to make English translations of Hitler's speeches and other items, to begin an English translation of ''Mein Kampf'' in late 1936 and it was finished by the fall of 1937. However, the Propaganda Ministry cancelled the project and sequestered all copies of the manuscript. Murphy was beginning to be seen as "unreliable" by the government and was dismissed from his position at the Ministry. As the international situation worsened in 1938, Murphy sent his wife and children to England to live with her mother. They arrived in
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
in June, while James finished up the rest of his commissioned translation work in Berlin and came to London in early September. In London, Murphy contacted his literary agent, Robert Somerville, and they found an interested publisher in
Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman Heineman is a surname. Notable people with the surnam ...
. However, they realized that translation rights in the United Kingdom and its dependencies already belonged to Hurst and Blackett. Furthermore, they did not have a manuscript in hand. So Murphy was convinced to return to Germany to secure both a copy of the manuscript and permission to publish it, but on the date he was scheduled to fly to Berlin, he was denied an entry visa and told he would be wasting his time. Therefore, his wife, Mary, decided to make the trip, finally crossing the Channel on 6 November 1938. In Berlin she was unable to schedule any appointments with the Propaganda Ministry until 10 November. This meant she was in Berlin during the ''
Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...
'' pogrom of 9 November. The next day she met with Heinrich Bohle at the Propaganda Ministry, but could not get anywhere. She pursued other contacts within the Ministry but came up empty handed. Finally, without any more money and living with her ex-house keeper, she decided to visit one of James' former secretaries whom he had employed as a typist. To her great relief, she still had one of the handwritten copies of the James Murphy translation. She left Berlin on 20 November. Meanwhile, Hurst and Blackett had not yet decided whether to publish Murphy's manuscript, or any translation at all. On 21 November 1938, they received a message from Eher Verlag stating that they had not authorized Murphy to publish his edition in England, reiterating that Hurst and Blackett would be the publisher if any edition was ever released in England. Hurst and Blackett were informed that the American translations were going to go ahead on 31 December 1938 and decided to publish Murphy's translation in January 1939, despite their ambiguous legal standing (the contract with Eher Verlag did not explicitly say they could go ahead with a full translation). Unbeknownst to them, the various principals in Berlin and the German diplomats in the US were contacting each other, trying to find out what their position was with regards to the various translations. By the time the matter was finally sent to the
Reichskanzlei The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared s ...
in February 1939, the point had been rendered moot. Murphy's translation hit the stores in the United Kingdom on 20 March 1939. While neither Hitler nor any of the German government officials endorsed the Murphy translation, they ultimately took no action against it and, by May 1939, Eher Verlag was inquiring about possible royalties. They were told that royalties would only be paid after six months in print. However, by then war had broken out between the two countries and copyright relations severed. Because so many records were destroyed during the war, accurate sales figures on Murphy's translation are difficult to establish. Robert Sommerfeld reported that approximately 32,000 copies were sold by August 1939. There was also an illustrated edition and a serial edition in eight parts. It has been conjectured that 150,000–200,000 copies were sold in total. Murphy, for his part, did not feel he was adequately remunerated, being paid £250 up front and £150 six months later. The publishers did not feel the need to pay him any more after they received a letter from Germany prior to publication, stating he had already been paid for his efforts when he was employed by the Propaganda Ministry.


Stalag translation

The German Government used 90% of James Vincent Murphy's rough draft translation of ''Mein Kampf'' to form the body of an edition to be distributed in the UK once
Operation Sea Lion Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...
was completed. This 'Operation Sea Lion Edition' was finalized and printed in the summer of 1940. Once the invasion was called off by Adolf Hitler most copies were distributed to English speaking POW camps. Very few copies survived after the war.


Reynal and Hitchcock translation

After the
Munich crisis The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Ger ...
in September 1938, the firm of
Reynal & Hitchcock Reynal and Hitchcock was a publishing company in New York City. Founded in 1933 by Eugene Reynal and Curtice Hitchcock, in 1948 it was absorbed by Harcourt, Brace.'' American Authors and Books: 1640 to Present Day'' Third Revised Edition, Crow ...
decided that it would be imperative to have an unexpurgated edition available to the public. They found that a team of scholars at the
New School of Social Research The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
were in the midst of preparing such a translation. Reynal & Hitchcock approached both this committee and Houghton Mifflin about publishing the translation under a license. However, on 8 December 1938, Stackpole Sons Inc. announced that they would be publishing their own translation of ''Mein Kampf'', arguing that Hitler, as a
stateless person Stateless may refer to: Society * Anarchism, a political philosophy opposed to the institution of the state * Stateless communism, which Karl Marx predicted would be the final phase of communism * Stateless nation, a group of people without ...
in 1925, could not have transferred his copyrights to Eher Verlag and thence to Houghton Mifflin. A conference was held at the office of Reynal & Hitchcock on 12 December 1938, with General Edward Stackpole and William Soskin, executive director of Stackpole Sons, to discuss the matter. Stackpole claimed that Reynal & Hitchcock said that if Stackpole could put the work in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...
they would not be interested in publishing their own translation. Reynal & Hitchcock claimed to have stated that they had already been working on the project for months, had a translation in hand, backed by a committee of prominent scholars, and were in the process of negotiating the rights with Houghton Mifflin. In any event, Stackpole and Soskin took this to mean that they were allowed to carry on with their translation unperturbed until they were visited at their office by
Curtice Hitchcock Curtice Hitchcock (March 4, 1892 in Pittsford, Vermont – May 3, 1946), was an American publisher and in 1933 founded Reynal and Hitchcock of New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the ...
who informed him that they were going ahead with their translation, which was going to be under license from the exclusive copyright holder, Houghton Mifflin. The agreement between Reynal and Hitchcock and Houghton Mifflin was finalized on 18 February 1939 and the book was available in stores on 28 February. The contract stipulated that Reynal and Hitchcock would pay Houghton Mifflin 15% royalty on each $3 copy. After one year, Reynal and Hitchcock had the option of releasing a cheaper edition, and the agreement itself would expire after three years. Houghton Mifflin would print and bind the book at its
Riverside Press Riverside Insights is a publisher of clinical and educational standardized tests in the United States; it is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It is also a charter member of the Association of Test Publishers. Riverside Insights was establish ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
and was allowed to keep publishing the ''My Battle'' abridgement. Notably, Houghton Mifflin agreed to pay all the expenses for seeking a copyright
injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in p ...
, and subsequent legal fees would be split between the two companies. To counter Stackpole's claims that sales of its translation would go to
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, Reynal contacted the various
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...
committees and pledged all profits above their legitimate expenses would go to a charity for
refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.
. However, no assets could be touched for the Reynal and Hitchcock edition, including royalties or charitable donations, until the legal issues were settled. As it happened, the legal battle did not finally end until 25 October 1941. After deducting $11,500 for legal costs, Houghton Mifflin was prepared to give $11,500 to Curtis Brown to pay to their client, Eher Verlag. Before this could be done, however, war broke out between the United States and Germany and Eher never received any royalties from this edition. Profits from the book went to a charity, Children's Crusade for Children, which helped refugees. Included in this was the initial $35,000 for administrative and promotional costs, which also went to the child refugees. As far as Hitler's royalties went, they were governed by the
Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 The Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) of 1917 (, codified at and et seq.) is a United States federal law, enacted on October 6, 1917, that gives the President of the United States the power to oversee or restrict any and all trade between the ...
and put into an account assigned to the
Office of Alien Property Custodian The Office of Alien Property Custodian was an office within the government of the United States during World War I and again during World War II, serving as a custodian to property that belonged to US enemies. The office was created in 1917 by E ...
, succeeded by the
United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
after the war. As of 31 March 1972 the royalties on ''Mein Kampf'' paid to the US government amounted to $92,616.59. The Attorney General also paid a
corporation tax A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a direct tax imposed on the income or capital of corporations or analogous legal entities. Many countries impose such taxes at the national level, and a similar tax may be imposed a ...
on them to the
IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
. Today, the profits and proceeds are given to various charities. The members of the New School committee that edited and translated the book were John Chamberlain, Sidney B. Fay,
John Gunther John Gunther (August 30, 1901 – May 29, 1970) was an American journalist and writer. His success came primarily by a series of popular sociopolitical works, known as the "Inside" books (1936–1972), including the best-selling ''Insid ...
, Carlton J. H. Hayes,
Graham Hutton David Graham Hutton OBE (13 April 1904 – 14 October 1988), was a British economist, writer and Liberal Party politician. Background Hutton was born the elder son of David and Lavinia Hutton. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, the London ...
, Alvin Johnson,
William L. Langer William Leonard Langer (March 16, 1896 – December 26, 1977) was an American historian, intelligence analyst and policy advisor. He served as chairman of the history department at Harvard University. He was on leave during World War II as h ...
,
Walter Millis Walter Millis (March 16, 1899 – March 17, 1968) was an editorial and staff writer for the ''New York Herald Tribune'' from 1924 to 1954. Millis was a staff member of the Fund for the Republic from 1954 to 1968. He later became the director of t ...
, R. de Roussy de Sales, and George N. Shuster. The book was translated from the two volumes of the first German edition (1925 and 1927), with annotations appended noting any changes made in later editions, which were deemed "not as extensive as popularly supposed"."Introduction," ''Mein Kampf''. New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1940; pg. viii. The translation was made with a view to readability rather than in an effort to rigidly reproduce Hitler's sometimes idiosyncratic German form. Significantly, the translation marked in the text areas that had been left out of the Dugdale abridgment. The text was heavily annotated for an American audience with biographical and historical details derived largely from German sources. As the translators deemed the book "a propagandistic essay of a violent partisan", which "often warps historical truth and sometimes ignores it completely", the tone of many of these annotations reflected a conscious attempt to provide "factual information that constitutes an extensive critique of the original". Apart from the editorial committee there was also a "sponsoring committee" of prominent individuals including
Pearl S. Buck Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, Pulitze ...
, Dorothy Canfield, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ida Tarbell,
Cyrus Adler Cyrus Adler (September 13, 1863 – April 7, 1940) was an American educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar. Early years Adler was born to merchant and planter Samuel Adler and Sarah Sulzberger in Van Buren, Arkansas on September 13, 186 ...
,
Charles A. Beard Charles Austin Beard (1874–1948) was an American historian and professor, who wrote primarily during the first half of the 20th century. A history professor at Columbia University, Beard's influence is primarily due to his publications in the f ...
,
Nicholas Murray Butler Nicholas Murray Butler () was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the deceased Ja ...
,
Theodore Dreiser Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm mora ...
,
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...
,
Morris Ernst Morris Ernst (August 23, 1888 – May 21, 1976) was an American lawyer and prominent attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In public life, he defended and asserted the rights of Americans to privacy and freedom from censorshi ...
, Rev.
Harry Emerson Fosdick Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominen ...
, Rev.
John Haynes Holmes John Haynes Holmes (November 29, 1879 – April 3, 1964) was an American Unitarian minister, pacifist, and co-founder of the NAACP and the ACLU. He is noted for his anti-war activism. Early life Holmes was born in Philadelphia on November 2 ...
, James M. Landis,
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
, Bishop William T. Manning,
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earli ...
, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Mgr.
John A. Ryan John Augustine Ryan (1869–1945) was an American Catholic priest who was a noted moral theologian and advocate of social justice. Ryan lived during a decisive moment in the development of Catholic social teaching within the United States. The l ...
,
Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. Early years Thomas was the ...
,
Walter White Walter White most often refers to: * Walter White (''Breaking Bad''), character in the television series ''Breaking Bad'' * Walter Francis White (1893–1955), American leader of the NAACP Walter White may also refer to: Fictional characters ...
,
William Allen White William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America. At a 193 ...
and Rabbi
Stephen S. Wise Stephen Samuel Wise (March 17, 1874 – April 19, 1949) was an early 20th-century American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader in the Progressive Era. Born in Budapest, he was an infant when his family immigrated to New York. He followed his father ...
.


Stackpole translation and controversy

The Stackpole edition was translated and printed in a hurry between December 1938 and February 1939. The translation job was left to
Barrows Mussey Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barr ...
, who requested anonymity. On the eve of the publication of both translations on 28 February 1939, Stackpole had invested $21,000 in the project and had an initial print run of 15,000 copies. Also on that date Houghton Mifflin's motion for a temporary injunction against Stackpole publishing their edition was denied by Judge Alfred Conkling Coxe Jr. of the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
. Coxe reasoned that "The Defendants Stackpole have raised questions of title and validity which are not free from doubt; the facts are in dispute; and the issues cannot properly be determined on affidavit." Houghton Mifflin appealed to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...
, and for a few months both translations were available for sale to the public. The case was heard on 18 May 1939, before the judges
Learned Hand Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 an ...
, his cousin Augustus N. Hand and
Charles Edward Clark Charles Edward Clark (December 9, 1889 – December 13, 1963) was Dean of Yale Law School and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Education and career Born on December 9, 1889, in Woodbrid ...
. The judges went into conference on 24 May 1939, and came down with a decision granting the injunction against Stackpole on 9 June 1939. Stackpole then appealed for delay and rehearing, based on legal technicalities because only one copy of ''Mein Kampf'' had been deposited with the
United States Copyright Office The United States Copyright Office (USCO), a part of the Library of Congress, is a United States government body that maintains records of copyright registration, including a copyright catalog. It is used by copyright title searchers who ar ...
, according to Houghton Mifflin's Bill of Complaint. After this was denied later that June, Stackpole appealed to the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. Until the Supreme Court granted
certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
, Stackpole was now enjoined from selling its translation of ''Mein Kampf'' and Houghton Mifflin exercised its copyright by securing injunctions against ''Mein Kampf: An Unexpurgated Digest'' and ''Mein Kampf: A New Unexpurgated Translation Condensed with Critical Comments and Explanatory Notes''.Houghton Mifflin Co. v. Noram Pub. Co., 28 F. Supp. 676 (S.D.N.Y. 1939)
/ref> The Supreme Court denied Stackpole's petition for a writ of certiorari (that is, the Court declined to hear the appeal) on 23 October 1939,
Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judic ...
recusing himself. Stackpole then tried further appeals, this time based on the original 1933 contract between Eher Press and Houghton Mifflin. The case again went to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in May 1940, again before Learned Hand, now accompanied by Herbert B. Chase and
Robert P. Patterson Robert Porter Patterson Sr. (February 12, 1891 – January 22, 1952) was an American judge who served as United States Under Secretary of War, Under Secretary of War under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and US Secretary of War, U.S. Secretary of ...
, who ruled in July that Houghton Mifflin did need to get authorization from Eher Verlag to prove their contract valid. However, Stackpole was still enjoined from selling its translation. Eher Verlag, who had not previously been involved in the case, gave a statement to a consular official in Munich in 1941, and the case was finally settled in District Court on 4 September 1941, when Houghton Mifflin was authorized to collect damages from Stackpole. $15,250 was paid by Telegraph Press, Stackpole's
parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
, on 25 October 1941. In its publicity campaign for the book, Stackpole set up a committee of prominent individuals who were to handle the funds that sales of the book would provide to refugee charities. This committee included: Harold Lasswell, Wesley C. Mitchell, George Gordon Battle, Reinhold Niebuhr, Horace Kallen, Ernest Meyer, Max Eastman, Vida Scudder, Louis Hacker, Landis, Bernson Y. Landis, Allen Heely, Milton Winternitz and Edward Smith Parons. During the short period it was in print from 28 February – 9 June 1939, Stackpole had sold 12,000 copies of its translation. No records show whether any profits were ever turned over to any charity. The translation remains a rare and valuable artifact. WorldCat lists 133 copies worldwide. The case set a legal precedent in US copyright law, as it established that stateless individuals have the same copyright status as other foreigners, a point not addressed in the Copyright Act of 1909 or in previous litigation.


Manheim translation

The Reynal and Hitchcock translation went out of print in 1942. No reason was given, but it was speculated that it was because Houghton Mifflin did not want to share profits with Reynal and Hitchcock, as well as a desire to produce a cheaper, less bulky version, without the elaborate notes and commentary that the Reynal and Hitchcock translation had. In 1943 Houghton Mifflin published their own edition, translated by
Ralph Manheim Ralph Frederick Manheim (April 4, 1907 – September 26, 1992) was an American translator of German and French literature, as well as occasional works from Dutch, Polish and Hungarian. He was one of the most acclaimed translators of the 20th cen ...
, which they still publish. The plates of the James Murphy translation having been destroyed by the Blitz, Hurst & Blackett decided to issue the Manheim translation in the United Kingdom when they decided to produce a new edition in 1965. The decision to issue a new edition at all ran into opposition from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–1990), West German government. Nevertheless, Hurst & Blackett still possessed the copyright for the British and Commonwealth market. The new edition was finally published in Britain in an intentionally expensive hardcover edition in 1969. A soft-cover 1972 edition at £1.95 was also controversial, as it was seen as a betrayal of the original decision to keep the book from wide distribution. In the words of Burt A. Folkart of the ''Los Angeles Times'', Manheim himself later argued that his translation was a “troubled effort because Hitler’s style and mixed metaphors had to be rendered into simple English.”


Excerpts

In its efforts to counteract the influence of Dugdale's ''Mein Kampf'' abridgement, the American Jewish Committee drew up a mimeograph of quotations which showed that Hitler "attacked not only the Jews but the liberal institutions that are the basis of the government of the United States and in which he glorified war and the militaristic spirit. As these were not part of the abridged edition, copies of this mimeograph were sent to book reviews across the country."Barnes and Barnes, p. 74 The first excerpts from ''Mein Kampf'' to be published in English were selections from the Dugdale abridgement in the London ''Times (newspaper), Times'' in July 1933. These were published on 24, 25, 27 and 28 July. Feeling that these extracts gave a too favorable impression of their author and his intentions, Chaim Weizmann composed a 28-page translation of selected extracts from the first German edition which he sent to the ''Times'' and to the British Foreign Office. Most of these were "semi-obscene allegations against the Jews", but others were on foreign policy and the role of Education in Nazi Germany, education under Nazism. A series of pamphlets published by the Friends of Europe included four which consisted of excerpts from ''Mein Kampf''. The first dealt with biographical information, and the other three contained quotations on race, religion and foreign policy. The latter pamphlet was originally "extracted and translated" by Rennie Smith, however, the pamphlet's "guiding spirit" quickly became the Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, Duchess of Atholl. She contacted the Foreign Office and was given the excerpts that had been prepared by Weizmann. Further inquiries from her convinced the British foreign ministry to compose an in-house translation of some of the passages. The 11-page document, ''Central Germany, 7 May 1936 – Confidential – A Translation of Some of the More Important Passages of Hitler's Mein Kampf (1925 edition)'', was circulated among the British diplomatic corps, and a private copy was also sent to the Duchess of Atholl, who may or may not have used it in what was ultimately her translation of ''Mein Kampf'' in the Friends of Europe pamphlet. In 1939, two further pamphlets containing excerpts from ''Mein Kampf'' were published. One of these, ''Mein Kampf: A New Unexpurgated Translation Condensed with Critical Comments and Explanatory Notes'', was published by a start up firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, called Noram Publishing Company, which had been created for the sole purpose of publishing parts of ''Mein Kampf'' that were not available in the Dugdale abridgement. It was formed by the reporter Alan Cranston (later a Senator) and his friend Amster Spiro, a Jewish reporter with the Hearst syndication, Hearst syndicate. While dictating the translation to secretaries in Manhattan, one of the transcribers who happened to be Jewish became alarmed at the contents and contacted the Anti-Defamation League, who sent Benjamin Epstein to investigate. When Epstein learned that the publication was meant to alert the American people to the danger Hitler presented, Epstein decided to collaborate with Spiro and Cranston. "Once I realized he was really on our side … I opened our files and we worked very closely together", he was later quoted as saying.Anthony O. Mille
Court Halted Dime Edition of 'Mein Kampf': Cranston Tells How Hitler Sued Him and Won
United Press International 14 February 1988
This pamphlet was published in a 32-page tabloid edition with notes, maps and illustrations. The cover stated that not one cent of royalties would be paid to Hitler, and the profits would supposedly go to refugees. Cranston claimed that they sold half a million copies in 10 days at 10 cents each. However, Houghton Mifflin secured an injunction against Noram from the Federal District Court and they had to pulp their remaining stock of 500,000. Finally, there is ''Mein Kampf: An Unexpurgated Digest''. Relatively little is known of this edition or its editor and translator, B.D. Shaw. He explains in his preface that he was concerned about Germany's expansionism in the late 1930s and wished to alert the public to the dangers Hitler presented, but which were not shown in the abridged edition of his book. Like the Cranston pamphlet it cost 10 cents and it had 31 pages.


Reception and readership

The British edition of the abridgement was reviewed by ''The Times'', ''Times Literary Supplement'', ''Birmingham Gazette''. ''Birmingham Post'', ''Daily Express'', ''Daily Herald (United Kingdom), Daily Herald'', ''Daily Mail'', ''Daily Sketch'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''The Evening News (London newspaper), Evening News'', ''Evening Standard'', ''Everyman (magazine), Everyman'', ''Irish Independent'', ''Leeds Mercury'', ''Liverpool Post'', ''The Listener (magazine), Listener'', ''Manchester Guardian'', ''Morning Post'', ''New Britain Movement, New Britain'', ''News Chronicle'', ''Northern Echo'', ''Nottingham Guardian'', ''The Observer'', ''Oxford Times'', ''Public Opinion (magazine), Public Opinion'', ''Punch (magazine), Punch'', ''Reynold's News'', ''The Scotsman'', ''The Spectator'', ''The Star (1888), Star'', ''Sunday Dispatch'', ''Time and Tide (magazine), Time and Tide'', ''Western Morning News'', ''Yorkshire Herald'' and the ''Yorkshire Post''. Publication of the Dugdale abridgement was actively opposed by Jewish organizations in the United States. Prominent stock broker Louis Lober and others petitioned the New York City Board of Education to cease buying textbooks from Houghton Mifflin, in retaliation for publishing the book. Department store owner Louis Kirstein, industrialist Max Conn, the ''Chicago Israelite'' and lawyer Samuel Untermyer also urged that it not be published. In the United States the book was reviewed by the ''New York Times'' twice – once on its day of publication, 11 October 1933, by John Chamberlain and two days later by former American ambassador to Germany James W. Gerard. Other reviews were made in the ''New York Herald Tribune'', ''New York World-Telegram'', ''Saturday Review (U.S. magazine), Saturday Review of Literature'', ''American Mercury'', ''Christian Science Monitor'', ''Baltimore Sun'', ''Dallas Times Herald'', ''North American Review'', ''Chicago Daily News'', ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'', ''Louisville Courier-Journal'', ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Milwaukee Journal'', ''Cleveland Plain-Dealer'', ''Kansas City Star'' and ''Springfield Sunday Union and Republican''. It was also reviewed in ''The Nation (magazine), The Nation'' by Ludwig Lore who would go on to write the introduction for the Stackpole edition. There is no firm evidence that Stanley Baldwin or Neville Chamberlain ever read the abridgement, but Franklin D. Roosevelt had one in his library in which was annotated: "The White House – 1933 This translation is so expurgated as to give a wholly false view of what Hitler is and says – the German original would make a different story." He had been sent a complimentary copy by the publishers. It is known that Chamberlain read the above-mentioned extracts circulated in the Foreign Office by Anthony Eden. When the unabridged translation was published, Chamberlain immediately bought a copy and annotated it. The Murphy translation was also reviewed in ''The Times,'' ''The Spectator'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Observer'', ''Times Literary Supplement'' and ''Evening News''. Reviews were mostly positive about the translation itself, but felt that Murphy's introduction was too favorable to the author.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 64–5, 146 n. 17


See also

*Antisemitism in Europe *Antisemitism in the United Kingdom *Antisemitism in the United States *Contemporary imprints of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Contemporary imprints of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' *List of conspiracy theories#Antisemitism, Jewish conspiracy theories *Mein Kampf in Arabic, ''Mein Kampf'' in Arabic *New antisemitism


References


Further reading

*Pastore, Stephen R., Andreas Stanik, and Steven M. Brewster. 2016. ''Adolf Hitler's Mein kampf: a descriptive bibliography.'' New York, New York: American Bibliographic Press, 2016.


External links


Mein Kampf sales statisticsMurphy translation at GutenbergMurphy translation at greatwar.nl (pdf, txt)Complete Dugdale abridgment at archive.org1939 Reynal and Hitchcock translation at archive.org.1940 Stalag Edition at archive.orgStackpole edition of Mein Kampf
*
Some plain talk about a book by Hitler.
', a publicity pamphlet by Stackpole


Excerpt pamphlets

*Hitler, Adolf, 1889–1945; Nevinson, Henry Woodd, 1856–1941.
Hitler the man
', "Friends of Europe" publications No. 34 London : Friends of Europe, 1936 *Hitler, Adolf, 1889–1945; Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray Atholl, Duchess of, 1874–1960.
Germany's foreign policy as stated in "Mein Kampf"
', "Friends of Europe" publications No. 38 London : Friends of Europe, 1936 *Hitler, Adolf, 1889–1945; Hugh Dalton, Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton 1887–1962.
The Nazi party, the state and religion
', "Friends of Europe" publications No. 41 London : Friends of Europe, 1936 *
Mein Kampf, an unexpurgated digest, translated with critical comments by B. D. Shaw.
' New York, Political Digest Press [c1939] {{Adolf Hitler, state=collapsed Mein Kampf Translations into English Hurst and Blackett books