Seems like reading it would be useful from a “know your enemy” perspective, and a historical perspective. Kind of like watching “Birth of a Nation”- as long as you’re not into what they’re portraying on screen, it’s likely a hugely informative piece of filmmaking for showing the attitudes of the time in light of how popular the movie was along with what the subject matter of the film is.
Or why someone might read the Koran or Bible, despite not being Muslim or Christian- it’s a window into the thinking of people and a direct experience with a piece of literature that motivates and guides their thinking.
Same thing for “Mein Kampf”- I imagine it’s hard to understand the whole Nazi movement well without actually reading it.
It is a tricky issue. Just because something was promoted or built by the Nazis doesn’t automatically make it bad. I don’t see people boycotting volkswagens for example, and German drivers still use the Nazi Autobahns.
The Olympics are a major international event and have been held in many countries - quite a few with some dubious politics. The Nazis certainly used them for propaganda value and hoped to demonstrate ‘German’ or ‘Aryan’ superiority (and considering that Germany won the most medals at the games, maybe they did). They certainly did their best to stop jewish athletes competing, and only one did - Helene Mayer. They also famously ‘invented’ the whole ‘Torch relay from Olympus’ thing which is a huge part of the Olympic movement today, which no one has an issue with.
Major League did not integrate black athletes until 1947, but no one is burning Babe Ruth’s old bats as an example of ‘racist propoganda’. (Obviously I am not trying to equate racial inequality across 1930s USA with 1930s Germany).
There are more egregious racist symbols than those associated with sporting events. But it’s what you are comfortable with.
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It is a tricky issue. Just because something was promoted or built by the Nazis doesn’t automatically make it bad. I don’t see people boycotting volkswagens for example, and German drivers still use the Nazi Autobahns… [/quote]
Readily agreed. My father- the survivor of that era who lived in Neuweid until he was 8 and then fled- bought his first VW in 1958. Mom got her SuperBeetle in 1968. After that, they owned twin white Rabbits. Never understood it.
Similarly, I used to have some complex moments while holding the literal mechanisms of Nazi propoganda - the Arriflex motion picture camera body. Failing as all companies were during the brutal Depresion Arriflex was chosen as the Nazi movie camera of choice. Not only was Leni Riefenstahl a user of them, but they became the official camera of the Party for documentation and propoganda production. Without that infusion of cash for many years, the company would have faded into oblivion and filmmakers would be worse off for it. ( I have a collection of 35mm motion picture camera magazines going back to 1915. One of the more complex items for me is the 1937-era magazine. Feels weird to hold it knowing it was IN USE in Germany during the build-up to and during WWII )
Never knew about the torch- that’s a cool bit of history !! I ran with the torch on the track in Atlanta in 1996 as Evander Holyfield stepped onto the track to run it around. The defining moment for me of many hours of shooting that show. The Torch.
You kind of are- but it doesn’t hold up. Mentioning it sounds like equating it. Anyway, agreed- a bat is a bat is a bat. A torch is a torch is a torch. The Swastika ( Savarstikka ) predates the Nazi abuse of it by thousands of years, notably on the Indian sub-continent.
It is a LOT of pages to burn. I think when I return to home I will reach out to Jewish museums and see if anyone wants to make use of it for teaching purposes.
I am sorry to say that I would be motivated by the value of the things. (Has that been determined?)
I surely would not want them in my house. If they are valuable, I would sell them. If they are not worth too much, I would donate them to a university library.
I used to work at a military museum, and as a small museum we relied on the public to donate artifacts to us. One day this sweet old lady came in and explained that her husband had recently passed away, he was a WWII veteran, and he had a lot of war trophies he had brought home from his time in Europe. She wanted to donate them to a museum to make sure the “wrong” sort of people didn’t get their hands on it.
Me personally, I don’t think I could try to sell something like that. I’d be too worried about selling it to the wrong type of person. I’d consider donating it to a museum of some kind.
I’m in somewhat of a similar position. Grampa was a big collector, collected all kinds of stuff, and partof his collection was a few Nazi insignia or medals or something. I’m the history buff of the family so they got given to me. I don’t support that evil ideology in any way, but I hold onto them as memories of grampa. If and when my health starts to go and I start to shove off to the other side I’ll donate them to a museum so that the wrong side of the tracks don’t get their dirty mitts on them.
I found a copy in a thrift store for a buck and figured, "Why not? Let’s see what this all about’. (Well, really knew what it was about. Wanted to confirm how awful it was) Oh My God! The most un-readable crap I’ve ever stumbled across. Got maybe 5 pages in before putting it down for good. I lent it to my neighbor and never bothered to get it back. Complete and utter Shite!
I had to read Mein Kampf in college. We had to go to Kinkos to get a spiral bound photocopy of an actual book. The cover page only had the name of the course and instructor and it cost more than an actual copy probably would. I’m not sure how Kinkos making money off the deal was any better than the publisher.
A few years ago, I came across an African-American man wearing a Confederate Battle Flag kerchief on his head. Figured that he was doing it for the irony, or trolling the it’s-heritage-not-hate crowd. Made me do a double take, though.
I’m in a similar situation as the OP; I own an early 20th century edition of a book called “N***** to N*****”, by E.C.L. Adams. It’s a collection of dialogues and stories from black farmworkers, in Plantation English dialect, supposedly collected by the author in South Carolina in the 1890s. It’s sympathetic to its subjects, and includes some mockery of whites and racist laws - there’s one dialogue making fun of white people sentimentalizing black Mammys: "Let a cracker git some money and de fust thing he do is start talkin’ ‘bout he ‘ol’ Mammy.’ Dey go on til it make a respectable n***** sick on he stomach. "
I had read a reference to it by a linguist who studied African-American Vernacular English, and called it a valuable collection of post-war black vernacular. But other sources say it was fabricated by the author. Had considered offering it to an African-American research library here, but if it’s just racist humor, don’t know if that would be insulting. Not to mention the awkwardness of a white man walking into a museum of black history with a book whose title is the N-word.
Were you really bitter about a war you recently lost, but your pride in your particular interpretation of your national identity prevented you from admitting this loss? Were you looking for anyone else to lay blame on for this defeat? If not, you probably weren’t in the right state of mind for it.
If you reach out to someone at a museum of African American history, they may be able to tell you whether the book is of genuine historical value or not (even if it IS just racist humor, it still tells us about the mindset of the people who made and read the book. So it still may have value).
If you reach out by email and say essentially what you told us here, I don’t think they’d find it disrespectful at all!
I’d probably leave them in a box until I’m dead and let it be my kids’ problem. Their existence doesn’t mean much either way so why make this a big moral problem by putting them out in the world?
Perhaps consider donation to the Jesse Owens Museum? If the book were to be exhibited there, it will be shown opened to a page featuring Owens and not a more problematic image.
I don’t completely understand the struggle as either way you are not supporting the Nazi party or fascism.
I feel no guilt whatsoever for keeping my grandfather’s Walther P38. It was manufactured during WWII and is an amazing piece of history. Keeping it does not associate me with Nazis in any way.
If you like them, keep them. If you don’t like them, sell them.