A 90-year-old copy of an unauthorized French translation of Mein Kampf is up for auction – and the Montreal-based auctioneer doesn’t see anything controversial about it, despite long-standing opposition from Jewish defence groups.
“It’s a simple book that the customer brings us to sell in the auction. And he said, maybe it’s worth something,” said Patrick Bleziel, owner of auction house Maison des Encans de Montreal, adding he doesn’t think it’s that valuable. “We had some before different editions and usually they sell between $100 and $150.”
This particular edition is an unofficial French translation published in 1934, without the publisher’s consent.
Mein Kampf was Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party manifesto, written in 1925 while he was jailed following a failed coup attempt in Germany. Once the Nazi government took power, the book served as the basis for the Nazi regime’s racist policies, and every German was eventually ordered to own a copy.
The Nazi’s antisemitic views led to the murder of six million Jews across Europe in World War II.
The concept of selling or auctioning off memorabilia tied to the Nazis does not sit well with the Montreal Holocaust Museum.
“We definitely don’t think these Nazi objects belong for sale or for auction anywhere. They shouldn’t be used to glorify the Nazi regime,” said the museum’s director of communications, Sarah Fogg. “And that’s unfortunately not something we can control when they’re sold on places like Facebook Marketplace or at auction houses.”
The museum owns several copies of Mein Kampf, but Fogg said they’re carefully curated and displayed in their context.
“The hate that’s contained in this text and in this document is really dangerous when it’s used in the wrong hands and when it’s taught without the context and without the consequences really, for the Jewish community,” she said.
The book is still sold in some bookstores, though most versions are now sold with a critical analysis from historians.
Over the years, several pieces of Nazi-era memorabilia have been sold around the world, including private documents, personal items, and even some of Hitler’s artwork sold in Montreal 20 years ago.
The auctioneer insists he’s not insensitive, adding that the Germans jailed his father for distributing anti-occupation leaflets during the country’s occupation.
Bleziel said his father escaped execution after his grandfather produced fake IDs to show his son was underage.
“I was raised with that idea of all the atrocities that those people made during the war,” he said.
The identity of both the seller and the highest bidder will remain secret, he added.
