Mein Kampf: What Can Be Learned from the Words of Adolf Hitler

Monsters don't usually write autobiographies, not ones that are reasonably accurate anyway. Adolf Hitler did. Adolf Hitler dictated Mein Kampf to his friend and underling, Rudolf Hess while both men were incarcerated in Landsburg prison in 1924 for their role in leading a group of militant Nazis against a Bavarian minister's attempt to separate that region from the rest of Germany. The Nazis were ambushed by the army and Hitler was thrown in prison. In his introduction Hitler actually expresses gratitude that his incarceration gave him time to write his memoirs and political philosophies.

Mein Kampf is a highly unusual piece of writing: part bildungsroman, part philosophical/political treatise and part history. I have to confess; it is a good read. That is to say, it uses lucid and descriptive prose to tell its story. Much like Caesar's Commentaries, Mein Kampf focuses on fact and the bold statement of opinion with little room for flowery language. The tone is at times arrogant and martial while it can veer into the sentimental and even occasionally into self-mockery. I do not know whether or not Hitler spoke and Hess simply copied verbatim, but I would not be surprised if the text represents Hitler's actual words. He was a highly literate man, well versed in history, politics and German philosophy. Hitler was also a superb and experienced public speaker, so his mental faculties for organizing his thoughts, drawing analogies and formulating arguments was probably highly developed.

Cover from Mein Kampf's first edition.

Credit: Houghton Mifflin

Copyright: Bavarian Government