100 years of "Mein Kampf"/ The echo of Hitler's ideas continues

2025-07-18 08:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

On July 18, 1925, Adolf Hitler published his ideological manifesto "Mein Kampf." The book is considered a difficult read. But its ideological legacy remains dangerous to this day.

Adolf Hitler is alive. At least on the internet. Anyone who searches for the word "Hitler" on tech billionaire Elon Musk's Platform X will instantly come across posts made just seconds ago. The internet is full of Hitler: pictures of Hitler, Hitler memes, swastikas, "Heil Hitler" slogans.

Anti-Semites, racists, conspiracy ideologues, anti-democrats and Hitler supporters are spreading their ideological poison everywhere. In Germany, in Europe, in the USA, in Latin America, in the Middle East, in India.

The German dictator died eighty years ago, but the murderer Adolf Hitler continues to do good business to this day. Second-hand shops around the world make money with old editions of Hitler's pamphlet "Mein Kampf." A German edition costs about 250 euros, the Spanish version "Mi Lucha" costs over 300 euros, and the English edition "My Struggle" costs about 600 dollars on the relevant online portals. You can also find this book for a small fee in Egyptian markets and Indian online portals.

Brutal anti-Semitism and contempt for democracy

The book is now considered a manifesto in which Adolf Hitler laid out his fanatical worldview, his brutal anti-Semitism and his contempt for democracy and social diversity - eight years before he came to power in 1933. In "Mein Kampf" he calls Germans a superior and dominant race. And long before the start of World War II he dreamed of a "Germanization" of Eastern Europe and the forcible expulsion of millions of people.

"The motive for the war is revealed in the title - that's where the whole racism really comes to the fore," Austrian historian Othmar Plöckinger explained in an interview with DW. "This means that the strongest wins, and the strongest race triumphs. But even in the individual struggle for positions and offices, the one who has the strongest will, the one with the most ruthless spirit, the one who belongs, in the broadest sense, to the best race or has the best abilities, wins."

The book's publication on July 18, 1925, caused little stir. Hitler was a failed putschist who had just spent more than a year in prison for high treason. His National Socialist movement was small and had little political influence in Germany and Austria. Hitler was facing political failure.

And at that time there were many controversial writings with nationalist content and prison memoirs on the book market. Hitler's book was also not very original - its content was a disappointment even for many of his followers, explains Othmar Plöckinger: "In the newspaper "Deutsche Zeitung" there is a famous sentence that made Hitler very angry: 'We have been fighting a nationalist defensive war for 40 years, and now a young putschist (Hitler) comes and will explain to us what political thinking means!' Nevertheless, the book became a bestseller and a financial success for Hitler.

Disaster warning

The peculiarity of Hitler's work is that, unlike other dictators, he reveals his intentions in "Mein Kampf". He does not hide his violent fantasies. In their analysis, historians say: "He decisively declares war: a future war will be a war for existence in which all considerations of humanity and aesthetics will collapse and return to nothing." Tyranny under Adolf Hitler was therefore a rule with warning.

With Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945, and the end of World War II eight days later, his system of rule collapsed. Since then, Germans have vowed: "Never again!"

Does the phrase "Never again" still apply today?

"Despite the 'Never Again' declarations after 1945, anti-Semitism is once again showing its ugly face," says British historian Lisa Pine in an interview with DW. She teaches at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London. "And the poisoned language today is sadly and shamefully reminiscent of Hitler's writings a century ago."

Pine even notes that not only Hitler's anti-Semitism has survived, but also his hostility to democracy. This is why it is still important to deal with Hitler's writings today. "My students were always very surprised, even shocked, when we analyzed excerpts from 'Mein Kampf.' Because when they saw the words written in black and white, they began to understand what Hitler stood for."

Alarming signals

Nikolas Lelle from the Berlin-based Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which aims to combat right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism, also sees a dangerous resurgence of right-wing extremist ideology. This is also evident in memorial visits to sites and centers where Nazi crimes are commemorated. "Among the groups and school classes that come to visit these centers from rural areas, there are now almost always some students who wear right-wing extremist symbols or right-wing extremist slogans." Graffiti with swastikas has once again become part of everyday life in Germany.

Also alarming is the fact that right-wing extremist youth in particular have become more violent in recent years.

Social media hotspot

Nearly 100 years after Adolf Hitler published his pamphlet "Mein Kampf," many of the taboos associated with his inhuman hatred have disappeared. This has been noted by historian Matthew Feldmann of Teesside University in the UK. In an essay, he describes the social and cultural de-stigmatization of the far right as a "dramatic shift." Social media is partly to blame for this.

They are well suited to the far-right's dual strategy, a strategy also used by Adolf Hitler and his fascist movement: repeatedly breaking social taboos with radical messages, in order to then present yourself as conservative and conciliatory in other places.

Nicolas Lelle of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation is therefore calling for a much greater social engagement with social media platforms. According to him, there is an essential lesson to be learned from history: "Right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism and racism need clear positions, clear lines of demarcation. This content must be despised by society - and the people who represent such content must also feel this."/ DW