Since the early 1930s, the history of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf in English has been complicated and has been the occasion for controversy. Four full translations were completed before 1945, as well as a number of extracts in newspapers, pamphlets, government documents and unpublished typescripts. Not all of these had official approval from Hitler's publishers, Eher Verlag.
Since the war, the 1943 Ralph Manheim translation has been the most commonly published translation, though Manheim later expressed reservations about his translation, and other versions have continued to circulate.
Dugdale abridgement Eher Verlag took steps to secure the copyright and trademark rights to Mein Kampf in the United States in 1925 and 1927. In 1928, the literary agency Curtis Brown, Limited secured the assignment for negotiation of translation rights in the United States and Great Britain, and a German copy was picked up by their employee, Cherry Kearton. However, the firm found it difficult to interest publishers in the 782-page book by the leader of what was then an obscure splinter party in Germany. Even after the elections of September 1930, when the Nazi Party became the second largest party in the Reichstag, publishers were cautious about investing in a translation, due to the Great Depression.Barnes, James J.and Barnes, Patience P. (1980) Hitler's Mein Kampf in Britain and America: A Publishing History 1930–39 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 3
The same election inspired Blanche Dugdale to urge her husband, E.T.S. Dugdale, to write an abridgement of Mein Kampf. Dugdale began his work on this abridgement in about 1931, but he, too, was unable to find a publisher for it.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 3–5 In early 1933, at the time of the Nazi seizure of power in Germany, Dugdale apparently contacted Eher Verlag, who referred him to Kearton, now working for the firm of Hurst and Blackett. The latter firm was in the process of buying the translation rights from Curtis Brown for a sum of £350. Dugdale offered the abridgment to Hurst & Blackett free of charge, with the stipulation that his name not be used for the British edition.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 6–7 Before the book could go to press, however, Hurst and Blackett were visited by Dr. Hans Wilhelm Thost, London correspondent of the Völkischer Beobachter and an active member of the "Nazi organization" in London.Barnes and Barnes, p. 6. Barnes and Barnes 1980 does not elaborate on what organization is meant; however, a later book by the same authors, Nazis in pre-war London, 1930–1939 : the fate and role of German party members and British sympathizers Brighton, [England]; Portland, OR : Sussex Academic Press, 2005 elaborates that Thost was the original leader of the London Ortsgruppe of the NSDAP/AO beginning in Sept. 1931, pp.6–7; he stepped down as Ortsgruppenleiter in January 1932, but remained an active member into at least Nov. 1933 pp.10, 19 Although Eher Verlag was satisfied with Dugdale's abridgement, Thost insisted on taking a copy to Berlin for further censoring and official sanction. The abridgement was finally published in October 1933. Titled My Struggle the book was published as the second number in the Paternoster Library.Adolf Hitler My Struggle London: The Paternoster Library title page
In the United States, Houghton Mifflin secured the rights to the Dugdale abridgement on 29 July 1933. The only differences between the American and British versions are that the title was translated My Struggle in the UK and My Battle in America; and that Dugdale is credited as translator in the US edition, while the British version withheld his name.Barnes and Barnes, p. 2 The original price was $3.00 ().Barnes and Barnes, p. 78
In January 1937, Houghton Mifflin published a second edition after the first sold out. The price was lowered to $2.50 (). The publishers replaced the old dust jacket that showed Hitler giving his salute over a black and white background with a new one with panels of black, red, and yellow and a quotation from Dorothy Thompson. This led to an official protest by the Nazi government, as the black-red-yellow color scheme was emblematic of the liberal German revolutions of 1848–49 and the Weimar Republic, while the Nazis had returned to the black, white, red of the German Empire. Thompson's quotation was also objected to, as she had been expelled from the Reich in 1934 after writing unflattering accounts of Hitler.Barnes and Barnes, p. 79 The affair lasted into March 1937. Houghton Mifflin agreed to change the yellow to white, but it is unknown whether the Dorothy Thompson quotation was ever removed.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 80–1
Sales and royalties
The first printing was a deluxe 18-shilling () book that sold out its 5,000 copies and was never reprinted. The popular edition cost 3s. 6d. () and each print run was about 1,750 copies. Below is a table of available sales figures of the Dugdale abridgment in the United Kingdom. "On hand" here means on hand at the beginning of the year. The commission was payable to Curtis Brown as literary agent, and the tax to Inland Revenue.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 16–8, 143 n.16
Year On hand Editions Printed Sold Gross royalties Commission Tax Net royalties 1933 0 1–8 17,250 15,687 £350 £70 £84.7s. £195.13/RM2,611 1934 1,275 9–10 3,500 4,695 £7.1.2 £15.4.4 £58.5.6/ RM 715 1935 79 11–12 3,500 2,989 £74.18.6 £14 £7.3 £52.15.1/RM653 1936 590 13–16 7,000 3,633 £243.14.1 £48.14.10 £36.17.5 £158.1.1/ RM1,941 1937 2,055 17–18 7,000 8,648 £173.4 £35.6 £23.3 £114.4 /RM1424 1938 16,442 19–22 25,500 53,738* £1,037.23 £208 £193.91 £635.68 /RM 7410 Total 20,441 22 63,750 89,390 £1,884 £390 £344 £1213 /RM 14,754
In 1938, "slightly over 8,000 were colonial sales".Barnes and Barnes, p.17
The first printing of the U.S. Dugdale edition was 7,603 copies, of which 290 were given away as complimentary gifts. The royalty on the first printing in the U.S. was 15% or $3,206.45 total. Curtis Brown, literary agent, took 20%, or $641.20 total, and the IRS took $384.75, leaving Eher Verlag $2,180.37 or RM 5,668.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 78, 147 n. 14
6 mon. ending Sold Mar. 1934 5,178 Sept. 1934 457 Mar. 1935 245 Sept. 1935 362 Mar. 1936 359 Sept. 1936 575 Jan. 1937 140 Total 7,316
The January 1937 second printing yielded gross royalties of $1,311.38. Once the commission to Curtis Brown and corporation taxes were deducted, this left $891.74 or RM2,318.52.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 82, 148 n. 19
6 mon. ending Sold March 1937 1,170 Sept. 1937 1,451 March 1938 876 Total 3,497
There were three separate printings from August 1938 to March 1939, totaling 14,000; sales totals by 31 March 1939, were 10,345. This yielded gross royalties of $3,879.38 and a new of $2,637.98 or RM6,858.74.
Translations Murphy translation The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda commissioned James Vincent Murphy, who had been employed to make English translations of Hitler's speeches and other items, to begin an English translation of Mein Kampf in late 1936 and it was finished by the fall of 1937.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 53–4 However, the Propaganda Ministry cancelled the project and sequestered all copies of the manuscript. Murphy was beginning to be seen as "unreliable" by the government and was dismissed from his position at the Ministry. As the international situation worsened in 1938, Murphy sent his wife and children to England to live with her mother. They arrived in Southampton in June, while James finished up the rest of his commissioned translation work in Berlin and came to London in early September.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 56–7
In London, Murphy contacted his literary agent, Robert Somerville, and they found an interested publisher in Heinemann. However, they realized that translation rights in the United Kingdom and its dependencies already belonged to Hurst and Blackett. Furthermore, they did not have a manuscript in hand. So Murphy was convinced to return to Germany to secure both a copy of the manuscript and permission to publish it, but on the date he was scheduled to fly to Berlin, he was denied an entry visa and told he would be wasting his time. Therefore, his wife, Mary, decided to make the trip, finally crossing the Channel on 6 November 1938. In Berlin she was unable to schedule any appointments with the Propaganda Ministry until 10 November. This meant she was in Berlin during the Kristallnacht pogrom of 9 November.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 58–9, 63 The next day she met with Heinrich Bohle at the Propaganda Ministry, but could not get anywhere. She pursued other contacts within the Ministry but came up empty handed. Finally, without any more money and living with her ex-house keeper, she decided to visit one of James' former secretaries whom he had employed as a typist. To her great relief, she still had one of the handwritten copies of the James Murphy translation. She left Berlin on 20 November.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 59–60; Hurst and Blackett exclusive rights to publish in the United Kingdom and its dependencies p.63
Meanwhile, Hurst and Blackett had not yet decided whether to publish Murphy's manuscript, or any translation at all. On 21 November 1938, they received a message from Eher Verlag stating that they had not authorized Murphy to publish his edition in England, reiterating that Hurst and Blackett would be the publisher if any edition was ever released in England.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 60–61 Hurst and Blackett were informed that the American translations were going to go ahead on 31 December 1938 and decided to publish Murphy's translation in January 1939, despite their ambiguous legal standing (the contract with Eher Verlag did not explicitly say they could go ahead with a full translation). Unbeknownst to them, the various principals in Berlin and the German diplomats in the US were contacting each other, trying to find out what their position was with regards to the various translations. By the time the matter was finally sent to the Reichskanzlei in February 1939, the point had been rendered moot.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 61–63 Murphy's translation hit the stores in the United Kingdom on 20 March 1939.Barnes and Barnes, p. 64
While neither Hitler nor any of the German government officials endorsed the Murphy translation, they ultimately took no action against it and, by May 1939, Eher Verlag was inquiring about possible royalties. They were told that royalties would only be paid after six months in print. However, by then war had broken out between the two countries and copyright relations severed.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 69–71, 146 n.22
Because so many records were destroyed during the war, accurate sales figures on Murphy's translation are difficult to establish. Robert Sommerfeld reported that approximately 32,000 copies were sold by August 1939. There was also an illustrated edition and a serial edition in eight parts. It has been conjectured that 150,000–200,000 copies were sold in total. Murphy, for his part, did not feel he was adequately remunerated, being paid £250 up front and £150 six months later. The publishers did not feel the need to pay him any more after they received a letter from Germany prior to publication, stating he had already been paid for his efforts when he was employed by the Propaganda Ministry.Barnes and Barnes, pp. 67–68
Stalag translation The German Government used 90% of James Vincent Murphy's rough draft translation of Mein Kampf to form the body of an edition to be distributed in the UK once Operation Sea Lion was completed. This 'Operation Sea Lion Edition' was finalized and printed in the summer of 1940. Once the invasion was called off by Adolf Hitler most copies were distributed to English speaking POW camps. Very few copies survived after the war.
Reynal and Hitchcock translation