even in Germany. Here is the passage from the Ford translation with an expla nation that matches the context: I considered and still consider those organizers to be traitors even to this da y. They were hired and paid for by France. In the case of Dorten, history has already passed judgment. ( Hans Adam Dorten, attempted a non-violent putsch in the German city of Mainz which was unsuccessful and resulted in an arrest warrant for treason. He took refuge in the French occupied Rhineland, the name for the area on both sides of the Rhine river, and formed a political party there suppor ted by the French, however, due to his treason indictment, the other political part ies looked down on the new party .) Notice how the Ford translation explains who Dorten is plus what the referenc e in Mein Kampf actually refers to, not just his name and birth/death dates. The German word putsch means a coup d’etat or a sudden, often violent or forced overthrow of the existing government. The Ford translation is by far the most accurate and easiest to read versi on of Mein Kampf ever produced. The extensive research that went into the translation itself, pl us the research into every reference in Mein Kampf which is explained, many for the irst time ever, opens the work up to a much broader audience. The availability in an audio format al so makes it available to more people who want to understand the mind that cre ated the Nazi movement. MEIN KAMPF MEIN KAMPF 35 Hitlerisms A Hitlerism is a style used by Hitler. Everyone has certain words, phras es, or sentence structures they personally favor when writing, or in Hitler’s case, when speaking. Hitler’s books were dictated, however his speaking style is clearly present in them. Much of Hitler’s original wording and style was iltered out of past translat ions, for example when Hitler said ‘through and through’ it was simplistically translated as ‘through’ by older translations. When Hitler said ‘dragging the nation into an abyss of tears’ the older translators changed it to ‘dragging a whole nation down with itself.’ or another trans lation said ‘drags down the whole nation with it into the abyss.’ You may think such si mple omissions are minor, however when they occur in every second or third sentence, they collectively damage the overall translation, they cut out the original style and low, making the writing seem stilted and lat. Sometimes these seemingly minor om issions alter the meaning of the passage entirely. Preserving as many Hiltlerisms as possible was an important goal in the Ford translation. Here is an example of Hitler’s sarcastic wit as it comes across in the Ford translation: To hold a strike, the Marxists[union leaders] were needed, since it was prima rily the workers who had to strike. Here, Hitler was talking about a labor strike and obtaining the Marxists support and at that time the Marxist political movement in Germany controlled the unions and the refore the workers. A very sharp piece of wit in a paragraph dripping with sarcasm. It is interesting to note that Hitler spends more time attacking enemi es than promoting friends and allies. Hitler loved to enumerate. Here are ive reasons, there are three kinds of people . Most of these enumerations were kept in the Ford translation to preserve his style. Once in Mein Kampf , he began counting and forgot to complete the elements of his list. This is highlighted in the Appendix. Hitler was very fond of using the German versions of i.e. and e.g. Any instances of i.e . and e.g. which Hitler used were removed from the Ford translation for clarity. They appe ar sometimes but not in every instance in older translations. It is not known if H itler actually said these or if they were inserted by the secretary as it was transcribed. Hitler had a tendency to open a discussion with a problem, explain it, and expla in it again in the next paragraph. This style is more noticeable in writing and might not be as obvious