History Literature / MeinKampf

A sequel known only as ''Zweites Buch'' was [[AccidentalPun dictated]] and made [[DevelopmentHell but never released]].[[note]][[https://archive.org/details/ZweitesBuch-AdolfHitlersSecretBook actually]][[/note]]

* NaziProtagonist: [[TropeMaker The original one, in fact.]]

%%* SelectiveObliviousness

* PurpleProse: Indeed, many history majors specializing in that area of history cite it as the most boring book they have to read. There's one exception: the chapter on propaganda is a clear and well-written, though astonishingly cynical, essay on mass psychology. Don't think, however, that this proves Hitler could actually write well when he wanted to: the entire chapter was copied from an official German army manual that Hitler had been given some years previously.

** Some historians such as Ian Kershaw also suspect that Hitler's fellow prisoner Rudolf Hess probably ghostwrote several chapters of the book (having actually graduated college, Hess knew how to write a little better at least). The propaganda chapter was probably, if not dictated by Hitler and cleaned up by Hess, then totally written by Hess himself.

** PatrioticFervor: Like other fascists, Hitler was very nationalistic, lamenting the state of Germany and wanting more than anything to restore its former glory.

** DemocracyIsBad
** GreedyJew
** MasterRace
** PatrioticFervor
** RedScare
** {{Ubermensch}}

* ShortTitleLongElaborateSubtitle: The original intended title was ''Viereinhalb Jahre (des Kampfes) gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit'', meaning ''Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice''

The book is not recommended for reading unless you are a history major -- Hitler was a ''terrible'' writer. If you speak sufficient German, Creator/SerdarSomuncu has done the book as a comedy act, which works amazingly well and makes the dreck Hitler wrote entertaining ''and'' scary.

The book is not recommended for reading unless you are a history major -- Hitler was a ''terrible'' writer.

* AllThereInTheManual: Close examination of events as they actually played out reveals this as a ZigZaggedTrope. Hitler was very reluctant to annex his neighbours (initially, and only because he feared losing) and was annoyed that his followers kept pestering him to actually live up to his promises, commenting that when he wrote it he never expected to actually end up as dictator of Germany and he wouldn't have written the book if he had; he seemed to regard it as a "get-rich-quick" scheme to cash-in on his post-trial popularity and hoped to use the royalties to pay off his legal debts, and to inspire German far-rightists. When it came down to it, the invasions of both Austria and the Sudetenland were spearheaded by Goring, in large part because Germany's economic policies (ie. rapid re-militarization) meant they were spending far more than they had, and conquering her neighbours was the only way to balance her budget via rampant looting and theft (including from Jews), and seizing control of their industries. It was only after the world let Germany get away with this (and around the time he got hooked on amphetamines, which boosted his adrenaline and made him more reckless) that Hitler started getting more ambitious and taking his imperialist "promises" seriously, and masterminded the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland (both over the protest of Goring and others, though the likes of Ribbentrop and Himmler egged him on), and later the Soviet Union (again, over the protest of saner- if not exactly kinder minds).

** IdeologicalScreed

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mein_kampf_9518.jpeg]]

* HijackedByGanon: Everything was or will be a Jewish conspiracy. Losing UsefulNotes/WorldWarI? Jewish conspiracy. [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Bolshevik Revolution]]? Jewish conspiracy. EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage? Jewish Conspiracy. Specifically, the idea was that Jews had been too weak to keep their own land and after scattering throughout the world, became bitterly jealous of those other ethnic groups / races that that had managed to keep theirs, and that had "superior" cultures. Said cultures thrived because they held war, conquest, glory, elitism, purity and other such things as ideals, so the Jews spread the "lies" of pacifism, humility, democracy, egalitarianism etc., first through Christianity (which was sometimes held to be a Jewish corruption of what [[JesusWasWayCool Jesus]] actually taught- but since this was the only source of his teachings, they could re-imagine him to be whatever they wanted, like a great Aryan warrior, which they believed because of dubious pseudo-science at the time), then through liberalism, socialism and communism. Believing in pacifism ''et al''. made nations weak and corrupt and caused national disunity, which led to all of the above as the "pawns" of the Jews (socialists, pacifists, liberals etc.) turning against their leaders and their countries, with the end result being universalism where [[IfICantHaveYou like the Jews, nobody would have any land to call their own]]. And of course, the Jews loathed Germany especially [[SarcasmMode because Germany had the greatest race and culture of them all.]]

** One of the more accurate (whilst still being readable) and few unabridged translations handily employs footnotes to not only explain hard-to-translate words or explain references that the reader might not get, but also to point out when Hitler is [[Understatement not exactly being entirely truthful]] and what ACTUALLY happened, which occurs amusingly frequently.

In the first volume, Hitler wrote of his early years and his family life, his life in Vienna and his involvement in UsefulNotes/TheGreatWar, his political activity following the war, and the initial formation of the ideas that would ten years later become the core of the [[NaziGermany National Socialist movement in Germany]], interspersed with his rambling about his hatred for the Jewish people and his blame of them for the state that Germany was in after the war, drawing primary inspiration from the infamous antisemitic text ''Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion''.

* HijackedByGanon: Everything was or will be a Jewish conspiracy. Losing WorldWarOne? Jewish conspiracy. [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Bolshevik Revolution]]? Jewish conspiracy. EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage? Jewish Conspiracy. Specifically, the idea was that Jews had been too weak to keep their own land and after scattering throughout the world, became bitterly jealous of those other ethnic groups / races that that had managed to keep theirs, and that had "superior" cultures. Said cultures thrived because they held war, conquest, glory, elitism, purity and other such things as ideals, so the Jews spread the "lies" of pacifism, humility, democracy, egalitarianism etc., first through Christianity (which was sometimes held to be a Jewish corruption of what [[JesusWasWayCool Jesus]] actually taught- but since this was the only source of his teachings, they could re-imagine him to be whatever they wanted, like a great Aryan warrior, which they believed because of dubious pseudo-science at the time), then through liberalism, socialism and communism. Believing in pacifism ''et al''. made nations weak and corrupt and caused national disunity, which led to all of the above as the "pawns" of the Jews (socialists, pacifists, liberals etc.) turning against their leaders and their countries, with the end result being universalism where [[IfICantHaveYou like the Jews, nobody would have any land to call their own]]. And of course, the Jews loathed Germany especially [[SarcasmMode because Germany had the greatest race and culture of them all.]]

The second volume details the Nazi movement itself at some length, going over everything from philosophy, ideology, organization and other topics, including trade unions, the Russians, the the Stormtroopers, the use of propaganda and other factors which would come to be implemented during Hitler's rise to power.

->''"Those who want to live, [[MightMakesRight let them fight,]] and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle [[TheSocialDarwinist do not deserve to live"."]]''

* ShortTitleLongElaborateSubtitle: The original intended title was ''Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice''

->''"Those who want to live, [[MightMakesRight let them fight,]] and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle [[TheSocialDarwinist do not deserve to live]]"."''

A sequel known only as ''Zweites Buch'' was [[AccidentalPun dictated]] and made [[DevelopmentHell but never released]].

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Hitler almost certainly believes at least some of the lies he perpetrates here are true. Especially the ones about his war record and past experiences.

* SelfServingMemory: Among other glaring omissions, Hitler's "tortured idealist" image that he used to market this {{doorstopper}} tended to conveniently forget that he was in a [[LuxuryPrisonSuite minimum-security rehabilitation institute]].

* UnPerson: Hitler pulled this on his own family, as he makes himself out to be an only child when in fact he had a half-brother, a half-sister, and a full sister, as well as a couple of other siblings who died young. The most they get is a brief allusion when he talks about "our" father rather than "my" father. His full sister in particular said she would never forgive him for this.

In the first volume, Hitler wrote of his early years and his family life, his life in Vienna and his involvement in UsefulNotes/TheGreatWar, his political activity following the war, and the initial formation of the ideas that would ten years later become the core of the National Socialist movement in Germany, interspersed with his rambling about his hatred for the Jewish people and his blame of them for the state that Germany was in after the war, drawing primary inspiration from the infamous antisemitic text ''Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion''.

In the wake of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Mein Kampf has become one of the best selling and most banned books in the modern era.