Two new and unexpurgated English translations of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” have been printed by American publishers, and the profits will go to aid the refugees the Nazi Chancellor has created. Both Stackpole Sons and Reynal & Hitchcock have announced that the net proceeds from the sale of the editions will be turned over to committees which will distribute the funds among refugee organizations.
The Stackpole edition bears the statement that no royalties will be paid to Hitler. The company bases its refusal to pay royalties on the fact that in his original copyright application he said he was a “stateless man,” and therefore, according to the firm, is not legally able to obtain a copyright.
That neither translation is sympathetic to Hitler is indicated by the publishers’ statements. Stackpole declared in an announcement that there was “no attempt to make literary English from an original which is verbose, repetitive, ungrammatical and often unintelligible and illiterate,” The introduction to the Reynal & Hitchcock edition declares the translation seeks “to give the full flavor of the author’s mind.”
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