Deutsche Welle Television based in Germany in its programme People and Politics recently reported that a leading German historian wants to publish Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which in English would be translated as My Struggle or perhaps, My Fight, in its entirety with annotations. His aim is to publish Hitler’s books with appropriate explanations before the copyright held by the State of Bavaria expires in 2016.
The book is banned in Germany, but once the copyright expires anyone could print it. There seems to be an anxiety about the possible reprint of the book among neo-Nazi readers. When Hitler was imprisoned in 1923, he felt that the people should know what he stood for and therefore dictated the book to Emil Maurice and Rudolf Hess and it talks of a Jewish conspiracy to rule the world.
Deutsche Welle Television also reported that the massacre of six million Jews during the WW II was a result of this book and its ideology. The content and pictures on the Auschwitz website are so chilling. A former prisoner — who luckily survived the travails of war — on seeing some green grass outside a certain building in Auschwitz exclaimed that it undoubtedly did not exist when he had been there because they could have eaten at least this grass for satisfying their pangs of hunger.
M K Gandhi, so aptly called the father of our nation, wrote An Autobiography: The Story Of My Experiments With Truth. His birthday, October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, is a national holiday in India. On June 15, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring October 2 as the International Day of Non-Violence. Gandhi’s book and the principles he advocated brought about the liberation of an entire country of about 345 million, today termed as the largest democracy in the world. It is important to remember that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated while Hitler took his own life.
Margaret Mitchell when convalescing from an accident, wrote the novel Gone with the wind. It contains the saga of a romance between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. It won her a Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The story of the horrors of war, the destruction caused to families, relationships and landholdings gets unfolded in the book. The strength of Scarlett O’Hara as a provider for her family and all others for whom she cares must have torn someone’s heartstrings when  Rhett Butler, her husband, walks out on her at the end of the novel. It has induced another lady to write a sequel to the book, wherein Scarlett finds and wins back her love.
The power of the written word and the impressions it create on the minds of readers cannot be actually measured. Harry Potter books and the fan following they have is an example by itself. Perhaps, the impact of books on people can be calculated in terms of the repercussions the book has on society.
Most of us may still be able to recall the colourful pictures showing an apple for the letter A, a baby for B, a yacht for Y and so on. The stories in class I and II books may still be recollected to pacify an errant child. There are books which have been quoted for posterity and also books which have invited the wrath of communities. Therefore all authors carry a sense of responsibility to their readers.
What benefits do readers derive from books that disturb rather than educate? Issues of social importance should be raised to make people aware of the existing injustices. From the marketing perspective it is possible to position a product for a particular target market and to further customise it according to the needs of the consumer. A book cannot be targeted for an audience, it is and has to be mass marketed. Therefore, one should remember that a great responsibility rests on those who can write.
Sir Francis Bacon said, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”