So far, Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf is, in a word, boring. Since it is a text that has been banned widely and has influenced many, I expected it to at least be compelling, but I found the writing dry and uninteresting. Maybe it is because I find his prose so dull, but I struggled to follow some of Hitler’s writing, particularly the long, unreliable, historical parts with Joseph II and the Hapsburgs. I did not get nearly as far into the book as I had wanted to, but I did get several chapters in, and it was interesting to read about his—incorrect—connection between Marxism and Judaism. I was also interested by how Christianity was used as a justification for anti-Semitism, like when Hitler wrote, “by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord” (65), though he did not elaborate much.
Mein Kampf reads to me as a strange mix of autobiography and propaganda. He begins the book with describing his childhood, then relates it to his feelings about the state of Austria and Germans within Austria. He describes moving to Vienna as a young man, then goes on a rant about poverty, socialism, Marxism, democracy, and Jews, as well as writing about various historical figures. As a reader, I wish he had just chosen one or the other, but I suppose it is effective to slip in political beliefs among personal stories. I also found his abundant use of rhetorical questions on page 80 an interesting choice. Personally, I think that part would have been more effective as oration than written word.
I do wonder how the book was initially received around the world. Of course, anti-Semitism was rampant at the time, so it would not surprise me if people read about Hitler’s explicit hatred and fearmongering towards Jews and did not take action. I did a little bit of research and found out that it had been translated into 11 languages and had sold 5.2 million copies by 1939, so it is not like no one knew about his political agenda.