The title
of this post brings together two books that have shaken the German modern history.
The first
one is an essay written by an anonymous Austrian painter, whose creative frustrations transformed into political leadership that ended with millions of deaths and such a scale of devastation that the World has
never witnessed before.
The second
is an investigative work done by a German journalist who spent months disguised
as a Turkish illegal immigrant at the beginning of the 80´s. In the "The
Lowest of the Low", as it was translated originally, the author Günther
Wallraff, was experiencing and exposing first-hand the difficulty of life in
Germany's immigrant netherworlds.
“Three
million copies of the book were sold over the ensuing three years, prompting
the nation to put a more human face on its Turkish community, and also confront
the unacceptable conditions this workforce had been subjected to since its
arrival in the 1950s,”, as DW well resumed.
Few weeks
ago I’ve been to Berlin. For me personally this great city is a symbol deeply
rooted into my memory, since the collapse of the Wall, back in 1989, had a
domino effect that ended with the country I has born in; Yugoslavia. From the
scraps of the Berlin wall new walls were built, separating people by language,
faith and nationality.
While in
Berlin, “accidentally”, I came across the news that Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” is
the best-selling book of the year in Germany.
My first impression
was probably similar to most of the people who clearly associate Hitler’s
figure with the darkest of the modern times. The news of the rise of interest and
popularity for the book inevitably raises concerns and awakens symbols of fear and
destruction.
But the
first impression is what sells the news and the machine is programmed to run
without further critical, ethical or investigative interest in bringing the
whole picture to the reader.
Although
Mein Kampf reached Number 2 on Der Spiegel Top 1o list, the small letter shows
that 14,000 copies were sold, which is a very small percentage in a nation of 81
million people, and apparently the copies sold went mainly to academics, since
the book edition contains 3.500 academic footnotes of interpretations and
critics of the original work.
However, although
compared to 12 million of books sold during the Nazi period (4 times more than Ganz unten), 14.000 sounds almost insignificant, there is
motive for concern. If anything history has proven it is that humans love repeating
patterns.
The rise of
the Neo-Nazi ideology and their triumph on the local German election, the
victory of the ultra-right ideas on the Austrian presidential elections are some
of the elements of the pattern the great majority of Europe has buried in the
past. But the increase of the followers of this retrograde ideas who (among
other) seek to point out the refugees as the main treat to the social welfare and
safety of their countries and eventually the whole Europe, must be taken seriously.
And it must
be fought with intelligence, vision and universal values.
To start, every
time someone wants to buy Mein Kampf:
- he/she should first prove to have read Ganz unten.
- the seller should be obliged to state clearly that Mein Kampf is based on hallucinations and Ganz unten on investigation.
- 20-30% of the editor’s revenues should be destined to palliate the migrant crisis and facilitate integration.
Eventually, the light always breaks through.
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