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 during a speech. Some people have criticized Hitler for this style, however it is a valid MEIN KAMPF 36 MEIN KAMPF technique when talking to people of lesser education if you want them to remembe r what you said, you repeat it. This was usually limited to discussing an event, givi ng an example, veering off of the topic for a sentence or two, maybe a paragraph, then giving another example and discussing the topic some more. Some people cite where Hitler goes into depth in Volume 1 about the need for t erritorial expansion but then again explains it almost word for word in volume 2 as an example of his repeating himself and claiming it is an example of bad writing, but this is not accurate. We must remember that originally Volume 1 and 2 were two separate books and onl y later combined into one book. There is no doubt if Mein Kampf were written as a single book this duplication would not have been included, however it was simply not removed whe n the volumes were combined. Hitler, especially in Volume 2, frequently made reference to things already said, such as “As I have already mentioned...” or similar statements. Hitler liked to frequently say ‘mathematical’ or ‘mathematical certainty’ too. Hitler frequently spoke in a long train of thought. This works in speeches, but in writ ing it makes for complex, long sentences with multiple clauses. Without the vocal inlection to guide the reader, it can be dificult to follow in the older translations.