We recommend the article "Mein Kampf". That terrible book that no one has read? by Dr Tomasz Skonieczny - deputy head of the European Academy , which appeared on the https://wiez.pl portal.
The article extracts:
(...) The critical edition of "Mein Kampf" (Bellona) published in Poland on the 20th of January, which is at the same time the second publication of this kind in the world, provides a reason not only to reflect on what we really know about this book, and what is an element of the chain of associations which the mere mention of its author's name evokes, but also - what the consequences of releasing this work into legal distribution might be.
(...) At the moment when this text is being written, the Polish edition of 'Mein Kampf' has had its premiere. It is the second, after the German, critical edition of this book. Professor Eugeniusz Król, a recognised specialist with a reputation as a reliable scholar, is responsible for its preparation. As in the case of the German edition, the work on the Polish edition was also based on a sense of responsibility, so that a professional and scholarly edition would not only contribute to the de-mythologisation of the book, but also saturate the market, blocking any possible further editions.
(...) As for today, I do not see any alarming consequences of the critical edition of "Mein Kampf" published in Poland - which is, importantly, the first professional translation of this work into Polish - and I think that this is the moment which should be used to publicly raise the question what the history of 20th-century totalitarianisms teaches us. In this sense, Professor Król's work should fulfil the key task facing the academic community - not only to initiate discussions, but also to transfer their results beyond university walls, fulfilling the obligations that intellectuals have had since the 19th century. It would be overly optimistic to think that, without this impulse, a mature public discussion of the conclusions to be drawn from a critical and careful reading of the new edition of "Mein Kampf" awaits us.
The full text is available on the website of the WIĘŹ journal.
