Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
What's interesting is when Hitler wrote his book. He was in prison at the time.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Should students read Mein Kampf?
- Thread starter VoidCat
- Start date
It wasn't really 'written'. Apparently Hitler dictated it to Rudolf Hess and he typed it out, IIRC.
I’m a bit torn. On the one hand I think it’s important for young people to truly understand propaganda and the mindset of fascist dictators. Reading Mein Kampf could potentially help, I guess. I’m not sure. With the right teacher it could be beneficial to a student in history or SOSE class. Just a student reading it on their own? Ehh, depends on the student I guess?
Incidentally this reminded me of my old high school history teacher. I had her in the younger grades. She was quite the hard case lol. Took no crap from anyone.
Teen me was a bit scared of her. But man what a brilliant teacher. She despised Hitler with a burning passion, which seemed almost personal in hindsight. Maybe she had relatives die in the Holocaust. (We were never rude enough to ask though.)
But we would intentionally get her sidetracked in class by asking random questions about the Third Reich. Learnt a lot really lol. Just stuff that wasn’t on the curriculum.
Inspired my own interest in the subject years later. I feel like if we had to read Mein Kampf for history class, she would have made the work sing
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I would argue bomb making guides fall outside of what should not be withheld, as it is a decision not based in partisanship, ideology, origins, or views contained.
Why should they not learn about these things? You can't refute such things unless you at least know the talking points. Without knowing then you end up making a fool of yourself due to criticizing something you don't know about.
I don't think it should be mandatory in public schools.
However, I do think that it - or at least the parts where Hitler quotes Martin Luther - should be required reading in the religious education classes in Protestant churches.
Maybe then we wouldn't get so many Christians ignorantly arguing that someone as violently anti-semitic as Hitler can't be a real Christian.
Fair enough. Depending on how the book is structured that makes sense.
If it's a technical manual, for example.
If it's a 'mixed' book, idealogically based but containing technical information it gets trickier of course. In theory selective censorship of the material may work.
Ultimately I mostly agree on making even 'negative' texts accessible.
My former life as a primary teacher would always suggest to me that access to certain groups may be more sensible to restrict (for any material) though.
As a pragmatist (yep...I have no soul...lol) my mind leaps to rights to privacy, etc. To be clear, no issues with the Articles you mentioned on this...it's quite clear and explicit. I just wonder how that actually correlates with reality. I honestly am unsure.
That depends on how far into the weeds you're looking to go.
A basic philosophy that all humans are worthy of respect is actually a much more effective argument against many of these ideologies than being able to quote the impact on production statistics via their use (or otherwise) of interned citizens.
Personally, I like being across both, but my 12 year old daughter approaches such issues in a simple and effective manner. How does the situation match up with her non-negotiable values?
People can make prima facie cases for basically anything. Give me a room full of 12 year Olds and enough time, and it won't end well (were I sufficiently motivated).
But the kid who wants to discuss the topic to death, and litigate every nuance is kinda easier to 'turn' in my experience. They've set up a premise where a logical discussion can be had.
Whereas the kid who has strong core values that they view all discussion through will be more challenging.
Just my take, not trying to convince you of anything. I'm kinda enjoying a chance to share opinions on something that's neither political or religious!!
Complete side note, but it would be weird to see Nazis arguing for access to Mein Kampf based on freedom of speech and access to literature.
Somewhat ironic, at the very least.
Somewhat ironic, at the very least.
If I get to make a mandatory list for kids to read, it ain't making the cut by a loooooooooooooooooooooooong shot. Much better options given time is finite.
Heyo
Veteran Member
You do know that "Das Kapital" is required reading for students in economy, do you? His analysis was spot on and is still relevant in parts. This analyses is also neatly separated from his revolutionary philosophy.
Nonsense. Dialectic materialism is hooey.
Heyo
Veteran Member
A strange day on that we agree instantly. Having the source available is necessary for students of modern history but for everyone else a good textbook that puts the sources (the speeches being more important than "Mein Kampf") in context is much better. The topic has been thoroughly analysed, no need to "re-invent the wheel".
One source we had, I remember was a vis-a-vis of speeches, related passages from "Mein Kampf" and actions taken around the same time. It showed how Hitler lied to the people while his true motivations could have been known from "Mein Kampf" (if anybody had read it then) and how he acted (often in secrecy) against what he just said.
Why take up library shelf space? Mein Kampf is available on line. Any kid that wants to read it will.
These days getting your average school kid to read any book is a feat. A book? What is this, the olden days? We teachers deal with students that balk if they have to even type a search into Google. If you think the typical high schooler would wade through Hitler’s 1,000 pages of tedious drivel, you need an update on what’s going on in today’s schools.
These days getting your average school kid to read any book is a feat. A book? What is this, the olden days? We teachers deal with students that balk if they have to even type a search into Google. If you think the typical high schooler would wade through Hitler’s 1,000 pages of tedious drivel, you need an update on what’s going on in today’s schools.
RestlessSoul
Well-Known Member
It’s gibberish. Even when a copy was given to every household in Nazi Germany, it’s doubtful anybody read it in full.
Marx is also close to unreadable, but he was at least expressing coherent ideas; albeit in a profoundly turgid and opaque style.
Let people of any age read both and judge for themselves. Very few people ever will though, unless they are compelled to do so.
Marx is also close to unreadable, but he was at least expressing coherent ideas; albeit in a profoundly turgid and opaque style.
Let people of any age read both and judge for themselves. Very few people ever will though, unless they are compelled to do so.
Augustus
…
Children are just not very mature though, and so you have minimal upside with potential for significant downside for some students. If they want to read it, it's not hard for them to do that in their own time, but putting it on a shelf for groups of them to pick up is more likely to result in misuse than genuine learning.
Which do you see as more likely, significant numbers of children reading Mein Kampf in a nuanced and contextualised manner, or people using it for a brief 'joke' or for more malicious reasons?
Voted maybe. It should be available for use in some subjects, European history or Political classes for example.
Otherwise it can sit on the shelf unless someone does want to read it
Otherwise it can sit on the shelf unless someone does want to read it
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
It is, yet that would be freedom of speech at its best in terms that this type of freedom is worth fighting for. Truly ironic no doubt in light Naziism strictly controlled such freedoms.
Hermit Philosopher
Selflessly here for you
It is certainly not important to read Mein Kampf in order to understand history, no.
If you study intellectual history, you’ll read about Social Darwinism and why it was abandoned (together with 1900’s race-biology). It can explain a lot of why people were so misguided.
If you study psychiatry however, and fancy a closer look into the thinking of a madman, then by all means; perhaps Mein Kampf (accompanied by some book about his childhood and life before his political career) may be of interest.
Humbly
Hermit
I just downloaded a pdf copy off the internet for later reading.
Mein Kampf II, Freddy vs Hitler is still unavailable.
Mein Kampf II, Freddy vs Hitler is still unavailable.
Augustus
…
If only he'd used your title, might have got it published...
Zweites Buch - Wikipedia
The Zweites Buch (German: [ˈtsvaɪ̯təs buːχ], "Second Book"), published in English as Hitler's Secret Book and later as Hitler's Second Book,[1] is an unedited transcript of Adolf Hitler's thoughts on foreign policy written in 1928; it was written after Mein Kampf and was not published in his lifetime.
Gerhard Weinberg speculates that the Zweites Buch was not published in 1928 because Mein Kampf did not sell well at that time and Hitler's publisher, Franz-Eher-Verlag, would have told Hitler that a second book would hinder sales even more.