Post by Graveyardbride on Mar 10, 2016 8:13:02 GMT -5
Hitler’s Personal Copy of Mein Kampf to Be Auctioned
Alexander Historical Auctions, the Maryland firm offering the book and hundreds of other historical items from World War II such as a captured map of Iwo Jima used by US Marines to take the island, said the book was a rare version. "This edition of Mein Kampf, Volume II, was published by official NSDAP publishers Verlag Franz Eher in Munich, 1927, 354 pages octavo, in a finely-grained red leather cover with four raised hubs on the spine which also bears the gilt title: 'The National-Socialist Movement by Adolf Hitler,'" said the auction house spokesperson. "It is a rare edition of the work, not available to the general public, and was likely kept by Hitler for his own use or as a potential gift for an admirer."
In a letter of provenance, the daughter of Capt. Daniel B. Allen of the 45th Infantry Division, said her father, a member of a field artillery unit, brought this book home with him at war's end. Allen wrote on the front page of the book: "From Adolph Hitlers [sic] apartment in Munich on May 2 1945." This is important because there have been many copies of Mein Kampf touted as Hitler's copy. "This particular relic is of the best quality and with the most solid provenance," the auction house proclaimed.
Countries across the world have different policies on the book’s availability. In Germany, Hitler’s book was not published or sold until January 2016, when the state of Bavaria removed a 70-year copyright. The new, "heavily annotated" version of Mein Kampf – republished by the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History – hit German bookstores shortly afterwards, having sold out within hours on the Amazon website. Russia outlawed the book in 2010 following numerous public requests on grounds of extremism dissemination.
In the United States, Mein Kampf can be found at many community libraries and bought, sold or traded in bookshops. The US government seized the copyright in September 1942 during World War II under wartime laws, and in 1979, Houghton Mifflin, the US publisher of the book, purchased the rights from the government.
Source: Ariel Cohen, The Washington Examiner, March 9, 2016.