Soon American readers eager to peruse Adolf Hitler’s manifesto will be donating money to Holocaust survivors.
The US publisher of Hitler’s Mein Kampf has decided to give profits from the book to Boston’s Jewish Family & Children’s Services to help Holocaust survivors, the Boston Globe reported yesterday (June 28).
The publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, received criticism this spring for donating its profits to organizations promoting tolerance that were not Holocaust-specific. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s edition is translated into English by Ralph Manheim.
In the ’80s and ’90s, the publisher simply kept the proceeds, today estimated to bring in $60,000 a year.
“We have heard voices on many sides of this debate and they reflect the complexity of the issue,” said Andrew Russell, the publisher’s director of corporate social responsibility, in a statement. “Our intention has always been for these funds to have a positive impact,” he adds.
Hitler’s controversial autobiography was a bestseller in Germany in the 1930s. Starting in 1945, the Bavarian government, which held the copyright to the text, banned any re-publication of the book in the country.
This year, the book entered the public domain in Germany, and historians released an annotated version of the manifesto. It sold out immediately.