Back to the future to the past again
Germans can be einfach kompliziert (simply complicated) sometimes. And they don’t even seem to notice or mind all that much when they are being that way, too; which is kind of what makes all of this so complicated, which is simple enough, when you get down to it, really.
Take Oskar Lafontaine of the Left party, for instance, please. This guy belongs to a party that just got over “an issue” about firing one of its own for openly being a communist (the Left party, communist in essence you see, does everything it can to gain some middle ground here by telling everyone that they are in fact not) and now he wants to yank the rudder back over again by calling for parts of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto to be officially adopted as party policy (the Communist Manifesto, unlike Mein Kampf, is not banned in Germany, by the way). Whatever.
It seems that he finds parts of the work to be very contemporary because of all of the “naked, shameless, direct and brutal exploitation” going on in Germany these days. Uh, okay. I haven’t seen those parts of Germany yet but I’m sure that they must exist if Oskar says they do because he’s a street fighting kind of man who has had to punch and claw his way up from the dregs of society or something to the top of the heap where the other dregs live to become the multi-millionaire media megalomaniac he is today.
Of course Oskar’s real problem is something else altogether. He, like Marx, wants to be “Europe’s most dangerous man” and it’s just not happening. He is certainly one of Europe’s most ridiculous men and/or political Witzfiguren (laughing stock figures), I think, but he may not have the wherewithal to distinguish himself as the clear number one among all the others out there. The competition never sleeps, you know (see Berlusconi). Quoting Marx in 2008 isn’t a bad move, I must say, but something tells me it just won’t be enough.
Karl Marx: “Ich bin kein Marxist.”
Take Oskar Lafontaine of the Left party, for instance, please. This guy belongs to a party that just got over “an issue” about firing one of its own for openly being a communist (the Left party, communist in essence you see, does everything it can to gain some middle ground here by telling everyone that they are in fact not) and now he wants to yank the rudder back over again by calling for parts of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto to be officially adopted as party policy (the Communist Manifesto, unlike Mein Kampf, is not banned in Germany, by the way). Whatever.
It seems that he finds parts of the work to be very contemporary because of all of the “naked, shameless, direct and brutal exploitation” going on in Germany these days. Uh, okay. I haven’t seen those parts of Germany yet but I’m sure that they must exist if Oskar says they do because he’s a street fighting kind of man who has had to punch and claw his way up from the dregs of society or something to the top of the heap where the other dregs live to become the multi-millionaire media megalomaniac he is today.
Of course Oskar’s real problem is something else altogether. He, like Marx, wants to be “Europe’s most dangerous man” and it’s just not happening. He is certainly one of Europe’s most ridiculous men and/or political Witzfiguren (laughing stock figures), I think, but he may not have the wherewithal to distinguish himself as the clear number one among all the others out there. The competition never sleeps, you know (see Berlusconi). Quoting Marx in 2008 isn’t a bad move, I must say, but something tells me it just won’t be enough.
Karl Marx: “Ich bin kein Marxist.”
Kommentare auf Deutsch? Klar.
For video-game freaks (if there are any here) "Jericho" and other titles like that aren't banned in Germany they are indexiert, that's something entirely different.
And you my dear clarsonimus, is it really that hard to research something like the legal status of "Mein Kampf" in our modern times?
Excerpts from Wiki:
"At the time of his death, Hitler’s official place of residence was in Munich, which led to his entire estate, including all rights to Mein Kampf, changing to the ownership of the state of Bavaria. ..."
"...The government of Bavaria, in agreement with the federal government of Germany, does not allow any copying or printing of the book in Germany..."
"...Owning and buying the book is legal. Trading in old copies is legal as well ..."
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Clarsonimus: You write about LaF. the way a lot of people in America write about Ralph Nader. In some way they are probably analogous to each other. (Comment this)
There was a discussion about that a while ago and many "experts" said that it would probably be a good thing to publish an official version, before the rights expire, with comments and analysis to Hitlers rambling.
"Interesting distinction, Volker. I haven't heard it before."
Not really sure what you meant by that.
If your a talking about "Mein Kampf", it is not that hard to find a copy in Germany if you want to.
You can read it online, go to a big bibliothek or try your luck in a second hand book shop.
Heck try asking your extended family, there is probably an old aunt who has it in a drawer.
In the 30's and 40's every couple which married became one as demanded by law.
I've had one or two in my hands but never read it, not really interested in his ramblings.
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Because, they don't really want to see "Mein Kampf" in the bookshelfs again,me too for that matter urgh. It is one thing to let it be read and get analysed by the people and an other to see posters which promote Adolf Hitlers book in the streets of Germany. But in 2015 there will be no wenn und aber and we will see them again behind panorama windows, probably published by many different publishers.
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1. the communists under Stalin of Russia and the communists under Mao of China together managed to kill 75 million (Mao alone killed 50 million of his own people; an all time record), and Hitler only managed to kill 1/3 as many, but the Jewish lobby is better organized and the surviving Jews managed to get paid and still do for their suffering, while the Russians and Chinese are just casualties of war with no survivor benefits.
2. the Russian and Chinese communists and the British Empire and the Americans, and the rest if the world that fought Hitler won the war, and Hitler did not, and the Russian and Chinese and British and American, and all the other heads of state that won - survived the war and lived happily ever after.
3. Russia and China and Cuba and much of the America's and Asia adore Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto, and these Communist countries INVEST and buy Capitalist and Western Debt, and allow Capitalist countries like the United States to keep running huge deficits and huge national debts, and it is these communist countries that are the main source of western investments and western profits, and Hitler is not around to make such deals with capitalism and the West. (Comment this)
EuroYank: otherwise, you're a very confused person, historically and mentally as well I suspect. No offence, like. They're damn clever, those Second-World-War-Winning Chinese Communists, bringing down US capitalism though things like investment.... That damn Jewish lobby. Anyway, now we know that the Communist Manifesto is such a bestseller in Germany (I must tell those publishers) and it's the fault of the Russian and Chinese Communists and the Jews, please tell me for what reason it actually was a bestseller in Scotland a few years ago (and if you say 'because it's a cheap pamphlet and cost only 60p' you might actually be right), as I'm sure the Jews can't be playing much of a role.
My 'Webtipp': http://www.kapital-lesen.de (Comment this)