Mein Kampf: The Secrets of Adolf Hitler's Book of Evil | Free Documentary Nature

april 1945 the second world war ends in berlin the combats are particularly violent the entire world suddenly realizes the unprecedented scale of this conflict [Music] more than 50 million dead never before had a war been so deadly in this chaos the shocked allies discover the concentration camps [Music] the shock is so great that the americans forced the germans to come and witness the horror for themselves the holocaust the millions dead in combat some germans swear they knew nothing about this disaster [Music] incidentally at the nuremberg trial when confronted with the horror of the facts that is exactly what some nazis say like shown here on the left however one man states loudly and clearly that this was not the case a british man elwynn jones deputy public prosecutor according to him this appalling nightmare was almost scripted for all to read there was my hump the product of the warped brain of the fuhrer mein kampf literally my struggle the nazi bible written by adolf hitler an inflammatory book which directly led to these atrocities as elwyn jones claims from mein kampf the road leads directly to the furnaces of auschwitz and the guest chambers of maidanik and at the time certain germans thought exactly the same thing what i was thinking history proved mein kampf helped to prepare one of the biggest crimes ever committed on a worldwide scale the content is earth-shattering because it's his actual plan so were the holocaust and the war written in mein kampf what exactly does the book recount more than a century after its initial publication the book continues to divide opinions this book should no longer exist it's a recital of hatred a crazy path that leads to loss all written by a little man who was entirely convinced by what he's written it's really just an anti-semitic pamphlet of a violence that is hard to read if we really want to know hitler we can't pass by this book here is the secret story behind one of the most sold political books in the world 12 and a half million copies were published before 1944. a wretched book from a man who incarnated absolute evil a book that was forbidden in many countries for 70 years a book with an incredible story it all begins in november 1918 at the end of the first world war the german soldiers return home and among these millions of men there is one who still won't accept this defeat adolf hitzler at the time he is just a simple corporal who is about to be demobilized [Music] at the end of the first world war adolf hitler is completely unknown born in 1889 he's someone at 30 who has very few prospects for the future the risk for hitler and obviously what he feels is going back to the same life he had before the war not to say to cut to the chase the life of a loser [Music] hitler has no career no money no family so he sticks to all he has left the army and it's there that one man notices him captain carl mayer he spots talents that can be used for two things on one hand the intelligence services of the army and on the other the propaganda services including possible mayer speakers on hitler as a spy his mission infiltrate the dap the german workers party affiliated with the extreme right and there hitler feels particularly comfortable [Music] he does what he's asked but much more because at a certain point he takes to the floor and that is a key moment because he discovers something he wasn't aware of his talent as a speaker and it's in munich in brazaries like this one that hitler progressively becomes leader of the nsdap party several times a week he launches into two hour long monologues [Music] at the start he only said uses a handful of militants but ends up captivating thousands of people at the start of the twenties hitler is a skilled agitator in bars [Applause] but he has no intention of writing one event will change that what happened was mussolini's example of marching on rome which gave hitler ideas so in november 1923 hitler imitates mussolini he's 34 and at the head of a rising political party and at his sides is one of the heroes of the first world war general ludendorff in munich the two men decide that the time has come to take power by force hitter and his troops dramatically interrupt a meeting of the bavarian government hitler arrives in the middle of this meeting revolver shots are fired at the ceiling there's a slightly farcical side to the whole thing because he arrives fires a pistol makes a speech at the time charlie chaplin's impression of him is not yet known but we can imagine it's a bit like that and he threatens those who don't want to follow him but the operation fails behind their barricades in the street the members of the putch are crushed by the army sixteen of them are killed hitler is safe and sound but he is arrested and thrown in prison the landsberg fought 60 kilometers from munich when he arrives there hitler is at his lowest point [Music] we know that hitler weighed 72 kilograms when he arrived and would quickly lose weight he became depressed and started a hunger strike he even apparently thought about suicide after the failure of the punch it was a pitiful failure and not only did he not have the audience he wanted in bavaria but he became the laughing stock of all the newspapers hitler's story could have stopped there however at the back of cell 7 where it was least expected he finds a new lease of life he knows he risks the death penalty so for the first time in his life he starts to write 60 pages he prepares his defense for his imminent trial [Music] and the seed of the idea was sown to write about his experiences and his enemies so in 1923 it was about settling the score with his enemies three months later journalists are jostling at the start of the trial this historic image shows the conspirators of the putch accused of high treason they all plead not guilty all except one who stands up to the judge adolf hitler [Music] and there he uses the trial as a platform hitler was charismatic and those around him felt it that's what was fatal in his character that he could influence people personally listeners hung on his every word everything that he dreamt up people believed [Music] finally ludendorff is acquitted the others receive minimal sentences as for hitler he is also a winner in this trial he risked the death penalty instead he is sentenced to five years in prison and only serves nine months and in exceptional conditions [Music] in his cell he has access to newspapers drinks his tea from china cups with an amazing view of the countryside [Music] even better dressed in his normal clothes he talks to his fellow prisoners [Music] among them he finds friends and former put comrades like rudolf hess who would become one of the key figures of the third rush they could go into the common room when they liked during the day they were free in their movements and to talk to each other it was a bit like a flat chair for men in this four-star prison hitler is treated like a star since his trial he's become a kind of celebrity everybody wants to see him or give him gifts he receives biscuits flowers letters of encouragement from fans like this one starting with my beloved furu the leading figures of bavaria also rushed to talk to him the visitors book is full to bursting just like these cards detailing each interview to the last minute and among the 330 visitors there are some celebrities general ludendorff and also wagner's granddaughter many encourage him to continue writing and notably helena bechstein the heiress of the piano brand gives him a crucial present a brand new remington she often visited him during this period and so it's thought it must have been a gift from her as these machines were very expensive at that time and having such a device was not self-evident [Music] hitler has time his party needs rebuilding and he needs money to pay his lawyers and so he thinks that writing a book could be a good idea from there a myth is born hitler the orator wouldn't have written anything himself he would simply have dictated his text to email maurice and rudolph hess however nowadays historians think that is not the case the furor did indeed type his text in prison [Music] the first volume at landsberg he wrote alone in any case udolf hesse couldn't type very well he learned to use it in prison the others didn't really help him at that level so he worked alone on the typewriter this idea that hitler dictated his work is a myth it's false he starts collecting them he puts them all together in a kind of heart who swallow soup he manages to give a terrible nightmarish coherence to these racial books and ideas and so the months go on hitler perfects his terrifying theory that of the racial struggle at the top of his imaginary pyramid are the aryans in other words the germans in a permanent battle to protect the purity of their race their biggest enemy the jews who are considered a scourge [Music] he is and remains a complete parasite a scrounger like a harmful bacteria always spreading further his presence produces the effect of a parasitic plant wherever he settles the people who welcome him will be wiped out eventually [Music] juden in german the jews it's one of the words that appears most often in mein kampf it appears 373 times an average once every two pages an obsession for hitler he believes that they are responsible for all of germany's failures including their defeat in 1918. he tries to convince the germans that the jews are behind an international conspiracy to destroy germany and which is the course of all their problems he goes through the entire range of anti-semitic discourse and brings it to its maximum intensity at the end of 1924 hitler leaves prison with hundreds of pages under his arm and he doesn't have any difficulty publishing his text which is extremely violent towards jews because of his notoriety publishers are lining up the first books about him start to be released newspapers are talking about him he was a star in the media at the time well maybe not a star but someone very well known outside of bavaria and even outside of germany and so the possibility of publishing his first book was very attractive for hitler has the choice so he opts for the publisher who offers him the most money max amman he is also a friend his former sergeant during the 1418 war he runs a small publishing house and shares the same extremist ideas but before the book is released they have to find the right title which is not easy [Music] the first title of mangkampf was four and a half years of struggle against lies cowardice and weakness the title says a lot more compact synthetic and something that could be catchy [Music] in truth we don't know exactly who chose the final title one thing is sure it will be mein kampf my struggle and for its release it's highly advertised in the extreme right press the best christmas present this newspaper suggests in december 1925 but when it arrives in bookshops surprise it's not a commercial success a few thousand copies appeal to nazi supporters but the work does not break through as much as was predicted worse still some newspapers annihilate him [Music] hitler is a political agitator who no longer understands the world his ideas come from a twisted mind the truth is that mein kampf is a book that is mostly unreadable for his contemporaries it's mostly a hodgepodge of ideas a kind of volcanic explosion that isn't completely under control the public expected sensational revelations about the push that hitler would reveal insider secrets the expectation was too much people expected to see a political bomb explode and that was in no way what was in my campaign but hitler insisted in 1928 he even writes another work which is totally unknown nicknamed the secret book another very aggressive work however this second book is never printed in his lifetime the publisher refuses given the poor sales of hermine kampf so mein kampf could have stayed a small unknown work except fate is about to take a dramatic turn [Music] it's 1930 and the economic crisis in america hits a still weak germany hard in the space of four years the country has over four million more unemployed at the elections germans avoid the classic parties and vote for the extremes hitler's party goes from three to 18 per [Music] cent straight away sales of mein kampf go through the roof 54 000 copies were sold just in 1930 [Music] we want to know what hitler thinks what he wants this man who has become part of the german political system and in his quest for power this book improves the furore's image [Music] it establishes hitler's credibility as no longer just a political agitator just a speaker but a writer it's something that matters in germany germany is still a country that respects its doctors and professors [Applause] 1933 hitler amazes the whole world when he arrives in power almost by surprise he is appointed chancellor though he only won 37 of the votes [Applause] to realize his dreams of greatness and the conquests he wrote about in mein kampf he would need a united germany so with the help of goebbels he uses one of the theories contained in his book propaganda all effective propaganda must restrict itself to a few key points and enforce them with stereotypical formulas as long as required until the last of the audience is able to understand the idea and one of the tools of this mass propaganda of course is mein kampf very soon the state recommends that all government employees buy it from 1936 it is given to all newlyweds and then the furor charmed the manufacturing industry thanks to rearmament their orders increase eightfold businesses like krupp hand it out to everyone it was given as presents for birthdays and celebrations or it was given out like a bonus for good performances and to boost sales the publisher offers the book in all formats braille editions for the blind [Music] deluxe versions with a marble cover and gold-plated pages a limited edition for high-ranking nazi dignitaries and the ultimate in propaganda an enormous version in bible format [Music] it was a symbol of domination for the national socialists it was considered like the bible of nazism and even more important than the book itself was its symbolic function that everyone said we know mein kampf it's the first book by force the book becomes a bestseller and so ensures hitler's fortune through royalties he earns the equivalent of around 10 million euros he can buy himself his famous base the berghoff and satisfy his taste for luxurious mercedes cars [Music] in total 12.5 million copies were printed in germany until 1944. hitler earned around one reichsmark which means through this book he earned at least 12 million rice marks [Music] but behind the massive distribution was minecamp really red this isn't certain with its 700 pages and laborious text the work certainly had enough to put people off in 1940 carl heinz rina is enrolled in the wehrmacht as a nurse in his family his father had received a copy from his company but was not pleased with the gift [Music] my father put the book on a shelf and it stayed there until 1945. [Music] my father looked inside it and said it was a declaration of war pure and simple and added he would never read this nonsense in fact at the time like many other germans carl and his father underestimated hitler my family in hitler we didn't take hitler seriously we didn't think a man who wrote something like that could stay in power perhaps we should have taken in other families conversely the book crystallized all their fears in the suburbs of east berlin on the banks of the spree lut rakov remembers perfectly the first time he heard talk of mein kampf in 1938 lutz was only six years old his father otto was an architect one evening he got all his friends together at their house to talk about hitler's book i was sat under the table instead of being in bed because i was curious to know what they were saying i heard my father keep repeating but read this book and of course they weren't talking about the bible or anything else but about minecamp lutz doesn't know if his father's friends followed his advice but one thing is sure his father was one of the few germans to understand the future catastrophes that this nazi book forewarned he was of the opinion that all the answers to what the nazis were going to do were in mine conf at that time i remember hitler talked about freedom freedom freedom and in reality he was preparing for a war with all his force and of course this war that was in preparation had to stay completely secret and that is exactly what started to worry hitler [Music] [Applause] he is afraid that his plans will be revealed in his books indeed some of the passages do announce future conquests the aim of our external politics ensure the german people that they will get the territories they should territory will justify the sacrifice of our own children and in his hunger for this needed space hitler targets one country in particular france [Music] the mortal enemy the merciless enemy of the german people is and remains france predicts or in any case legitimizes the idea of a revenge against france a military revenge and there are many very violent pages against france which is seen as a symbol of racial mixing a country of negroes it's the word used by hitler and a country of jews if the french took these threats seriously they could prevent re-armament in germany so hitler adopts a very daring strategy november 1933 in berlin the fura is visited by a french journalist fernand de brunon a supporter of becoming closer to germany he speaks german and without a doubt has already read the passages in mein kampf and hitzler gives him a scoop the first french interview with the new chancellor [Music] and when de bruno asks lefura about his anti-france statements in his book hitler uses a ruse as old as time an outright lie [Music] hitler explains that he only wants peace he's been through war and europe has already had too many deaths has to ask him the question as mein kampf is well known saying that is not the opinion you have in mind kamf and hitler replies to him i've changed as would a politician that is faced with a text from his youth i've changed i wrote this text in prison in the fury of that time and today i'm chancellor the interview is on the front page of the newspaper le maton one of the biggest daily newspapers at the time with a reassuring declaration from the furu war will settle nothing it will only worsen the state of the world [Music] but in france one man doesn't believe a word and will do everything to fight hitler's book this man is fernan solo a publisher who had just started to break through in paris in the thirties [Music] he publishes many political texts and literature he's the fourth or fifth biggest publisher of foreign novels fernan solo whose politics are right-wing at the time admires mussolini but hitler and his work worry him a lot [Music] in any case this is how francois savier solo one of the publisher's sons remembers it literally 30 or 40 percent of the text is anti-french it's really an attack on the country he hadn't fought in 14 he was too young but he met my mother who was very anti-german because my maternal grandfather was killed very early on in the 1914 war to treat other cutters solo wanted to print hitler's book to warn the french people and also for the commercial gain the problem was that it would potentially be expensive there were 700 pages to translate and above all max amman and hitzler refused any translation into french is packed full of anti-french passages it is unthinkable that an uncensored version of the text would be released in french finds himself as an impasse that is until the day he is called to the ministry for former soldiers there he is welcomed with complete discretion a secret operation is underway [Music] solo is put into contact with a jewish former soldier whose name is maurice vanikov and who will introduce it into the ministry of former soldiers and it's through this ministry that a team unofficially of course is put together and so solo begins a race against the clock he wants to translate mein kampf into french as quickly as possible and to do this the ministry supplies seven experienced translators even better the leaker the league against anti-semitism buys five thousand copies meaning fifty thousand francs for solo [Music] which is absolutely crucial since as you can see in an operation like this one which has to be carried out quickly money needs to be raised quickly and that was done the book is released in february 1934 with a slogan aiming to shock everyone in france must read this book same turn of phrase on this poster it plays on the fear that mein kampf inspires and predicts a second world war is coming solo has pulled off a great book launch but things soon take a different turn hitler is furious this small french publisher is ruining his propaganda obviously hitler doesn't want the french to have access to his text without his propaganda and his ad hoc speeches at that time hitler is on a pseudo-pacifistic offensive where he's declaring to anybody who'll listen that he's a pacifist from that perspective mein kampf is a thorn in his side so the chancellor takes solo to court the case takes place in paris at the commercial court fifth of june 1934 the german and french lawyers face each other the right to alert the public against copyright solo against the most powerful man in germany the sentence is given 13 days later and may seem shocking the french courts rule in favor of the dictator [Music] it is forbidden to print or sell mein kampf with a penalty of 100 francs per infraction existing books have to be destroyed but this doesn't stop solo he gets around the law with abridged versions in other words pirated versions that are edited without the author's consent as a bonus he also manages to see off his stock with the collusion of the police [Music] he sold a considerable number of books during this period even after the court ruling because when the germans complained that the books were still on sale and demanded that the copies were seized from the publisher the local police called my father to say we are coming to see if you are still selling the book and sees any copies you have and so we put all the books into a van the police came and said there were no more copies and that evening the van came back and the next day we carried on however solo did fail in one aspect the book didn't alarm any of the french elite even the 4 000 copies distributed by the lika didn't have any effect the decision makers were blinded by hitler's pacifistic talk they considered the book too violent to be real [Music] it's unthinkable to follow the politics suggested in mein kampf so it is thought that hitler has cooled his opinions there is a refusal to see the violence in mein kampf but also a refusal to understand that german political culture was such that hitler would do what he said meanwhile the ideas in the book progressively penetrate people's minds on the streets and over the radio waves google's propaganda minister reads extracts from mein kampf the reich even developed a low price radio so they could be present in every home and at school some teachers sing the praises of the phoora's cult [Music] the children sing it they are ready to live and die for hitler their savior the most noble person in germany [Music] [Applause] in fact hitler is putting into practice what is written in his book and so his hatred of jews becomes part of the public consciousness this sign says germans your enemy is the jew the papers are full of shocking caricatures showing jews with monstrous features controlling the world and as this terrible message is hammered home some people end up believing it [Music] i know that one day my brother came home from school crying and my mother asked why he was sad my brother said that mr cornheim who was jewish had given him sweets and the other children said to my brother whoever eats food from the jews will die i heard this story and thought i don't have any sweets so i'm not in danger [Music] in an insidious and perverse way anti-semitism establishes itself in germany [Music] but could the holocaust have been foreseen from mein kampf for once historians agree unanimously of course mein kampf doesn't talk about the gas chambers but the book theorizes at length about the combat to the death that the germans must lead and that there can only be one winner between the racially pure german people and the jews the germans must have been more or less aware of what hitler had planned with or without mein kampf hitler never left any doubt that he wanted to modify the treaty of versailles and take revenge on france and in the mind of anybody with any sense that can only mean war but how the war would be led against who and what future he held for the countries in the east that is not written in mein kampf [Music] right up until the eve of the war europeans held on to the idea that peace with the furore was possible october 1938 hitler announces that he is going to annex czechoslovakia this is a violation of the borders that have been defined in 1918 europe is on the brink of war everything plays out here in munich the british prime minister neville chamberlain and the french defense minister eduard dalidier are urgently rushed there [Music] in the end they prefer to abandon their czech ally in exchange for a promise of peace from hitler they sign the famous munich agreement on their return the french and british ministers are welcomed as heroes [Applause] this morning i had another talk with the german chancellor hitler and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine [Applause] we regard the agreement signed last night and the anglo-german naval agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again [Music] peace seems to be preserved don't mind hitler take your holiday advises the press [Music] which politics want to be in favor of declaring war what politician wants to say i want to go to war the majority of european companies are pacifists never again do we want war never again the first world war never again the slaughter and even after the munich crisis very few of the elite foresee war written in mein kampf churchill and the young colonel de gaulle saw it very early on they said they were very worried but at the time they weren't in positions of power [Music] churchill has become almost an outsider in 1939 the pacifistic talk which has been so carefully maintained collapses brutally germany attacks poland and invades a large part of europe the russia's troops march through paris hitler celebrates the whole world trembles at the thought of falling under the control of the nazis that is when the elite changed their mind about mein kampf [Music] the harmfulness of mein kampf is discovered when hitler starts to apply the politics that he had written about so there's a discovery of what existed already but that people didn't see or didn't want to see that's when the fate of the book suddenly changes before 1939 the allies hadn't seen its danger but now they are going to use it to create effective counter propaganda that's what happens in the united states there americans are protesting against the war the average man is hardly thrilled with the idea of going to save europe another war not for me this time america should keep out and i know i will in the event of war in europe i think we should stay out of it entirely by all means no yes fight no no no so the authorities broadcast clips like these the scene takes place in a church at mass to mobilize its troops the film is aimed at the minorities attacked in the book mein kampf becomes a weapon of persuasion i'm not going to read all of this but they're one or two things in this book that will interest you i quote from time to time the illustrated papers show how a negro has become a lawyer a teacher perhaps even a minister it never dawns on the degenerate middle class america that this is truly a sin against all reason that it is criminal madness to train a born half ape until one believes one has made a lawyer of him this book was written 20 years ago the plan which it foreshadowed has become a reality at the same time on the other side of the atlantic the propaganda around the book intensifies war is also a battle of ideas and to win it the raj wants to impose its nazi doctrine in schools [Music] but this time it takes place in conquered territories it's a page of history that not much is known about part of france alsace and mosul finds itself nazified from 1940 these two regions become german again and the teaching there is turned upside down that's what we discovered at the regional archives in assassi through the testimony of magritte foster an alsatian teacher who kept an intimate diary from the summer of 1940 distressed she writes what will happen to my colleagues and me i hate the german methods to the bottom of my heart i'm horrified at the thought of teaching a member of the hitler youth teaching them to think deutschland uber alas germany above everything we have to teach them all of france's faults teach them perhaps to hate it as an enemy all of my being is against this state of things my god thy will be done there was no use marguerite protesting like all of her colleagues in alsace marzelle she had to follow the orders of the reich she goes to germany to undergo an indoctrination there she has to learn the program called rasankunda the science of the races reading mein kampf is compulsory and in her book margherita writes in german what the nazis dictate on the subject of music the jew has no creative activity he takes the creativity of others jewish music is going to take europe back into the night for her students she now has to use this pro-nazi book inside hitler is featured as an author to study in their books under the guidance of their teachers pupils aged 8 to 10 draw nazi symbols [Music] the teacher gave the nazi salute when he arrived all the lessons started with an update from the front where the german army were the advances the retreats it's clear that some of the teachers trained in germany didn't put this program into practice that a minority did as possible and we mustn't forget that there were some german teachers sent to el zasse moselle some of whom applied the program zealously from 1944 the german army saw a string of defeats as time went on the flagship book of the regime became an inconvenience [Music] to avoid looking like nazis germans tried to get rid of it [Music] the greatest number of copies i ever saw was on the 23rd of april 1945. we had some land next to the spree and i saw a lot of copies floating in the water it was poison it had to be disposed of and neighbors threw everything that was poisonous into a hole arms and books that had become embarrassing and in all of this was mine comes they stood out with their red covers we covered all of that with earth and prayed to our guardian angels that they would never be discovered of course with the advance of the red army people were afraid of being checked or identified as people owning this book they were scared the russians would turn against them that's why they got rid of it from then on in a defeated germany all nazi symbols had to be removed the allies demand that the machines used to print mein kampf have to be destroyed any republishing of the book is strictly forbidden in germany at that moment nobody imagined that this best seller would become a long seller this author is dead his work is filled with hate his politics ended in an appalling massacre however his forbidden work continues to be published in france for example after the war solo printed mein kampf and continues to do so on average two thousand copies per year and it's not the only one my struggle in england amina luta in brazil wardy feng do in china the book is published worldwide and has been since the 1930s it's impossible to ban its publication especially in the age of the internet and so millions of copies have been sold since 1945 there is also the fascination for what is forbidden if it's forbidden it must be interesting so we seek it out in arab countries fighting against israel the book seduces anti-semites even more surprisingly capcam the turkish version topped the bestseller list in 2005. nearly a hundred thousand copies sold in two months when nationalists arrived in power it is also surprisingly successful in india where hitler is sometimes quoted in management schools as a model of success a country like india where for years decades mein kampf has been successful mein kampf is the symbol of a war-mongering ultra-nationalism that imposes itself on its neighbors since the 1st of january 2016 the book has begun a new chapter in its story in accordance with copyright law the work becomes part of the public domain in theory nothing now stops it being republished but in germany the book is still considered dangerous as such only critical additions like this one are authorized the furos text is surrounded by 3500 comments written by historians of course we wanted to make a critical addition one based on the essentials it was about contradicting hitler correcting him in france the publisher failed took the same approach a scientific council are preparing a version that is also commented in order to neutralize the hate and lies in the original text [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary - History

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Rating: 4.6309428 out of 5

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full Documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), History, History Documentaries, Free Documentary History, History Documentary, German History, German Reich, World War II, WWII, Second World War, Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Nazi Germany, Greater German Reich, Beer Hall Putsch, Rudolf Hess, Autobiography, The Führer, NSDAP, Weimar Republic, Hitlerputsch, Landsberg Prison, Nazi Party

Id: dDaIjDXIAYU

Length: 55min 38sec (3338 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 13 2021