George Orwell Reviews Hitler’s Mein Kampf








Further Reading

Wendell Berry On The Cold War

What C.S. Lewis Knew Before WWII

We Are All War Memorials


  1. I always liked Orwell’s take, but I suspect he doesn’t speak German… Hitler’s prose isn’t really that bad – in German. His speeches, as well, were rhetorically powerful and flex German’s muscles pretty well. For me, I had read Mein Kampf in English and thought of it much as Orwell does. Then I learned German, and was honestly surprised at the difference.

    Many things do not translate. Probably most of the most important things, in fact.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for the input! I can’t really read much German and I have yet to read Mien Kampf in English, but it definitely makes sense that it wouldn’t quite translate with exactly the same potency.


      1. German really gets a bad rap. Within itself, it is a beautiful language. It also has quite a bit of rhetorical weight. In some sense, a lot of Germans fell for Hitler because they fell for German. German can make even mundane things sound significant.

        “I like to eat pancakes for breakfast.” becomes
        “Ich esse gern Pfannekuchen zum Frühstuck.” Give that sentence to Rammstein and away you go. 😉

        In some ways, English-speakers who liked him (like at least half of the world’s industrialists in the 30s) have far less of an excuse, since they were neither crushed by economic misery/lost wars nor vulnerable to manipulation through the language…

        Liked by 1 person

      2. BTW<, if you're interested in a German's experience with Hitler and the war years, I can't recommend Christa Wolf's "Patterns of Childhood" enough. One of the most beautiful books every written, by one of the world's bravest people.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Thanks again! I have always thought it would be interesting to study how the different emphasis of sounds used and concepts available in various languages have effected their cultures over a span of lifetimes. Here you bring up a valid argument for a situation where the powerful sound and rhetorical weight of the language directly influenced how society responded to a powerful user of the language.

        Always appreciate any reading suggestions!


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