Stories are popping up worldwide about Hitler’s personal copy of Mein Kampf that is for sale in my auction, which sold for $28,400 on Saturday.  Prior to and after the auction, I was inundated with questions from the press.

The persistent question I get is … why is Mein Kampf an important book at all?  Critics point out that the book was widely printed and sold, but infrequently read.  And if few read it, what actual impact did it have on world events?  This is a fair question with a profound answer.

The importance of the book is the fact that it wasn’t read.  It’s a critical lesson for us.  Had people taken the book seriously and actually read it – and by extension taken Hitler seriously – the world would be a fundamentally different place today.   After all, within it’s pages, Hitler was abundantly clear about his goals.  He spoke of Germany’s “historic destiny” to rule Europe.  Introducing the concept of Lebensraum, (living space) he clearly signaled that his vision involved taking land by force in the East, at the expense of Russia.  Communists and Jews look out – they were to blame for every bad thing in Hitler’s universe. 

Had Neville Chamberlain read (or paid attention) to the book, the Munich Pact would have not been signed.  Had Stalin not taken Hitler seriously, he would have recognized the insincerity of non-aggression pacts with Germany, and seen the massing of troops on the new Polish/Russian border in 1940 for what it was … a build up for invasion.    The falling dominoes from the historic mistake of NOT taking Hitler and his manifesto seriously go on from there, and are too numerous to count.

So yes, Mein Kampf is important not because of who read it, but because it wasn’t taken seriously.  It teaches us a lesson from the past – to take world leaders seriously when they make statements as clear and defined as Hitler’s were.  We face a dangerous and uncertain world today, and we would do well to remember this lesson as we constantly face new threats to our lives and liberties.