'Mein Kampf,' signed by Hitler, sold for $64,850

Mein Kampf lays out Adolf Hitler's vision for a resurgent Germany after World War I along with his racist National Socialist political ideology. While copies of the book "Mein Kampf" are not rare, editions signed by Hitler are scarce.

Copies of Adolf Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf" signed by the German Nazi leader sold for $64,850 at an auction on Thursday in Los Angeles, auction house Nate D. Sanders said.

The autographed copies of the two-volume work steeped in anti-Semitism are inscribed as Christmas gifts to Josef Bauer, an officer in the German SS during World War II and a participant in Hitler's failed Munich coup in 1923.

While copies of the book "Mein Kampf" are not rare, these 1925 and 1926 editions signed by Hitler are scarce.

Eleven people bid during an online auction that ended on Thursday evening for the signed books, which were estimated to sell for between $20,000 and $25,000, the auctioneer said. The winning bid includes a buyer's premium, also known as commission fees.

The same Bauer books fetched $25,000 in a sale at Bonhams auction house in London in 2012.

In the two-volume "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle), Hitler lays out his vision for a resurgent Germany after World War I along with his racist National Socialist political ideology.

"Mein Kampf," unlike Nazi insignia and some Nazi films and songs, is not banned in Germany. Its German copyright has been owned by Bavaria since the end of World War II, and the southern German state has prohibited sales and printing.

(Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 'Mein Kampf,' signed by Hitler, sold for $64,850
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0301/Mein-Kampf-signed-by-Hitler-sold-for-64-850
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe