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Show A4 TheSalt Lake Tribune WORLD Sunday, November21, 1999 ‘Mein Kampf”: Germany’s Modern BestSeller Nazibible’s rising Internet popularity sparks international censorship debate SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS VICE, BERLIN — To paraphrase Dor- othy Parker, some books should be lightly tossed aside, and others should be hurled across the room with great force. Mein Kampf, which even as a historical document is a turgid, repetitious, il- logical, meandering read, deserves a top piace in the latter category. Pickingit up now,it’s frighten- ing to think that anyoneever took it seriously, and all but inconceiv- Dalloway and The French Lieuten- ant’s Woman.In Switzerla'd, BOL UK buyers lean toward Star Wars: Episode 1, and German customers whohave recently bought a legally acceptable annotated edition of Mein Kampf favor books on fortune-telling, hypnosis for beginnersand Tarot. Amazon.com's customers also have gone for The Communist Manifesto, The Rise and Fallofthe Third Reich and Das Kapital. ndnoble.com's able that it might attract readers to Mein Kampf is Machiavelli's The Prince. nuggetsof information to emerge from last month's Frankfurt book demand for Mein Kampfdownto by German customers on Amazon.com, the Internet bookstoresite. therefore demandis bound to ap. pear unusually high. But German in modern Germany and Austria. But oneof the most intriguing According to the company, the Nazi bible, written on a Reming(on typewriter in 1924 while Adolf Hitler was serving a prison sentence for his beer-hall putsch, was topped only by Elizabeth George's detective novel, In Pursuit of the l'roper Sinner, among German It’s too easy te put the German the rise of right-wing extremism The Internet is the only way some people can get hold of it and competitor, German company Bertelsmann s a 40 percentstake, said its sales figures show the book to be infourth place. succin complaint with the German Jus- tice Ministry about theselling of incendiaryliterature to Germans via the Internet after a Germanbased researcher for the center successfully ordered aselection of Nazi books including Mein Kampf from the U.S.-based BOLonline bookstore. In response, the Justice Minis- thousands of copies bought on the Internet are destined for proto- themselves. The online booksellers have defended themselves on the to have changedthe history ofthe “The decision as to what one chooses to read should be left to the individual. We are not cen- has emerged, but intriguingly, ac- sors,” said a spokeswoman for Amazon.com. But on Wednesday, Ai spokesman Bill Curry absolutely clear that also are keen on Moby Dick, Mrs. piece The Mein Kampf saga has sparked a debate about harmonizing e-commerce laws within the European Union andbeyond. Meanwhile, commentators in Germany have been discussing whetherthe ban of the book does As a result of the protests, however, Bertelsmann AG,which has a 41 percent stake in barne- sandnoble, announced it would ask the U.S. bookstore chain to more harm than good. In the liberal Berlin newspaper Der Tagespiegel, Hans Monath says: “Its myth-like status is not to be dispelled through banning it and making it taboo, but through let: ting it be freely available, stop delivery of the book to Ger- many.The unannotated version of Mein Kampf would be removed from Internetsites in Britain and France, it said, although selling the book is not illegal in those manBerndSchreiber,a blind eye is turned to whatIsraelis do. (isturbingly, an Arabic translation of Mein Kampf wasrecently 622 outofa list of 1.5 million titles “Welooked into whetherit ws legal for us to sell the book,” said. “We discovered it w: ing to booktraders.) In England, as in the United States, the bookis freely available because the publishing house responsible for Mein Kampf soid we'll carry onsellingit because \ No. 6 on the best-sellerlist in Ramallah,on the West Bank,accord- want to provide our custome. with as large a selection as pus ble, and we can’t afford to ma moral judgments.” CLINI QUE Allergy Tested. 100% Fragrance Free. istry can’t take any action against online bookstores outside Germany. Instead, it’s reliant on the line bookseller, buyersof the trade auction. ‘a ister Herta Bauebler-Gmelin said. “We don't want that stuff, and those companies are breaking Germanlaw.” Realistically, the Justice Min- to stock it, it has long been difficult for Germanstoobtain. ‘The big question is whether the cording to BOLUK,a British on- know! . The online bookstores have t! software to block availability of banned material.“If it was illeg:1] for us to sell Mein Kampfto Ge mans, we'd put this software iv use,” says Judith Catton, spokes. try announcedthat it would take companies “It's disgusting,” Justice Min- paperback version‘of Mein Kampf sum of human anonymous. putsit about freedom of speech in the electronic age in Germany, where world. So far, no clear reader profile several antique editions up for it once more. Meanwhile, anyone in Germany whowants to publishit or to quote extended passages from it must apply for permission to the arian Finance stry. Most requests have been turned down, but, according to ministry spokes- ‘The whole worldis legalsteps to halt the sale of Hitler’s works by American Internet fascists or for readers with a more academicinterest in oneof the few books that can genuinely be said mpf as a “contemptible work” but stamp out misuse of the book, at least until the copyright runs out in 2015, when German publishers could be given therightto publish watching us. News of Mein Kampf’s popular- propaganda. Annotated copies are available for academic purposes, and althoughit’s notillegal toown it. orfor libraries or antiquarians that it’s making every effort to including ity has triggered a fierce debate its sale is forbidden under a law barring the dissemination of Nazi ing, Sokoracna for Barnes & Noble Inc., part ownerofthesite. lawyers are reviewing and peas whatthe law in Germanyis. changed,” said Mary Ellen Keat- 3,000 copies a year, said it wanted nothing to do with the “dirty money.”It tried to give it to the Bavarian state, which declined the offer, as did various Jewish charities and the Red Cross. After a long search, one British chariiy agreed to be the recipient on the condition that it remained Hitler's furniture, houses, bank The row was sparked after the SimonWiesenthal Centerfiled a top notes.” Germanywill continue to show it The book remains onall BOL's sites, as well as at barnesandnoble and Amazen.com, which also has everyone now has access to the explanatory hasn't on manyfrom Amazon.com.” Barnesandnoble’s head, Leonard Riggio, described Mein Kaalso a “historical document”and added: “Welive in a world where by for the Bavarian Finance Minis- Nazi Party’s property buyers in Germany. Although Amazon.com already had a policy ofnot selling the book fromits Amazon's notselling Mein Kampf into Ger- accompanied try, which was handed the legal responsibility by the Allies for the account and Mein Kampf barnesandnoble.com,in which the So, to ensure that we're in eoaplance with the laws of a democratically run nation, we are been a sticky one. A few years ago the British publisher Hutchinson,which sells countries. “Our position happen to the profits has always politicians and the newly formed band of cybercops in the townof Wiesbadenare worried. Bernd Schreiber, spokesman customers. Now, however, Amazon.com wili no tonger ship the book to German-based Website, it was selling the book in English — Germancustomers from its U.S.aud English-based Websites. German-language version is banned in Germany. It is not le gaily definitely clear to us what the status of the English version them thelicense in the 1930s. But the question as to what shou!d goodwill of the stores to police grounds of upholding freedom of speech. Lae Bm DEDUCTION WE HANDLE gy paren WORK FULL TRUCKS BOATS TRAILERS RESTRICTIONS APPLY Miracle Flightsfor Kids Providing over 16,000 urgentlightsfor children needing critical medical attertion. Serving very sick kids and. theirfamilies since 1985. 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