Mein Kampf (‘My struggle’), was originally written by Adolf Hitler over 1925-1926, while he was imprisoned for his role in the failed putsch in Munich in 1923.
By 1939, the autobiographical work had sold 5.2m copies and had been translated to 11 languages. A copy of Mein Kampf was gifted to every newlywed couple in Germany at the time, and to every frontline German soldier.
After Hitler’s death, the state of Bavaria took ownership of the rights to Mein Kampf, and the province’s government refused any further printing of the book in Germany and elsewhere.
And in January last year, 70 years after Hitler’s death, the book entered the public domain.
Right on cue, Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition hit the shelves across Germany in January 2016, and soon became a bestseller. The first edition in fact sold out rather quickly.
The revised works includes a heavy annotation in the form of academic notes that explain Hitler’s intentions and more obscure references.
The sixth edition will be issued in January of this year.