Hitler memorabilia 'attracts young Indians'

BBC News ^ | 15 June 2010 | Zubair Ahmed

[americanophile]

Slowly but steadily, a decade-old business around the dead and universally despised dictator Adolf Hitler is emerging as a small-scale industry in India.

Books and memorabilia on the German leader's life have found a steady market in some sections of Indian society where he is idolised and admired, mostly by the young.

The numbers are small but seem to be growing.

Latest reports say Bollywood is now planning to cash in. A film - Dear Friend Hitler - is due to be released by the end of the year, focusing on the dictator's relationship with his mistress Eva Braun.

It's hard to narrow down what makes the dictator popular in India, but some young people say they are attracted by his "discipline and patriotism".

Most of them are, however, quick to add that they do not approve of his racial prejudices and the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were killed.

But the truth is that books, T-shirts, bags and key-rings with his photo or name on do sell in India. And his autobiography, Mein Kampf, sells the most.

'Bestseller'

Jaico, the largest publisher and distributor of Mein Kampf in India, has sold more than a 100,000 copies in the last 10 years.

Crossword, an India-wide chain of book stores, has sold more than 25,000 copies since 2000 and marketing head Sivaram Balakrishnan says: "It's been a consistent bestseller for us."

[americanophile]

Dear God.

"Dimple Kumari, a research associate in Pune, has not read Mein Kampf but she would wear the Hitler T-shirt out of admiration for him. She calls him "a legend" and tries to put her admiration for him in perspective: "The killing of Jews was not good, but everybody has a positive and negative side."

[AnotherUnixGeek]

But the truth is that books, T-shirts, bags and key-rings with his photo or name on do sell in India. And his autobiography, Mein Kampf, sells the most. Jaico, the largest publisher and distributor of Mein Kampf in India, has sold more than a 100,000 copies in the last 10 years.

So about 10,000 copies a year are sold in India. It's worth pointing out that Mein Kampf sells over 15,000 copies a year in the US. Over 100,000 copies were sold in just two months in Turkey. (Numbers from Wikipedia).

Sounds like a lot of hype over nothing much - gee, maybe "Zubair Ahmed" of the BBC might just possibly have ulterior motives in trying to associate India with fascism.

[allmost]

They gained power from economic destruction. No one wants that repeated. A good case for you ‘historically inclined’ folks as to why I resist obama’s economically destructive actions.

[americanophile]

Zubair Ahmed is from India.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Of course, buying or reading Mein Kampf doesn’t neccessarily mean you agree with its contents. I have read it from cover to cover to try and get a better understanding of what motivated Hitler. I don’t see anything wrong itt buying a copy of Mein Kampf, its not like the author is still collecting royalties is he?

[LukeL]

10,000 copies in a country with 3X the population. So by comparison we buy 4.5X more copies per capita.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Zubair Ahmed is from India.

And, judging by the name, is Muslim.

[allmost]

I’ve never read it. Don’t agree with what I know of it, but you make a good point. I’ve read multiple communistic books for the sole purpose of trying to understand, the only difference seems to be that fascists killed less people at this point.

[wideminded]

The Hitler of Mumbai

"In an article appearing in Newindpress.com on August 20, 2007, Thackeray is quoted as wanting to be a dictator and the Hitler of the whole of India: He is on record as having told the Navakal: "Yes, I am a dictator. It is a Hitler that is needed in India today." He was once asked in a television programme whether he wanted to be the Hitler of Mumbai. "Do not underestimate me," he is reported to have retorted. "I am (the Hitler) of the whole of Maharashtra and want to be of whole of India.""

[MuttTheHoople]

I want to do a musical about the love affair between Adolf Hitler and Ernst Rohm, how Hitler learned to loathe the Jews because of the Scripture’s strong condemnation of homosexuality, how he blamed the Jews for being forced to murder his beloved “Du”, and how National Socialism is simply Communism for Homosexuals.

[Bon mots]

[Savage Beast]

Well--Che Guivara is a big hero to the morons. Why not Hitler? And Stalin? And Pol Pot? Tiberius? Nero? Caligula?

Don't forget--the Left adores ruthless dictators--especially psychopathic ones, "they know how to get things done"--and their propaganda is everywhere.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Difficult to believe that when homosexuals were included in the list of ‘untermenschen’ whom the Nazis were hell-bent on wiping from the face of the earth. Hitler actually made clear in MK that his hatred of Jews had nothing to do with religious doctrine (he even implied that he used to defend Jews from religiously based anti-semitic bigotry), it was all about race...

[Savage Beast]

...their propaganda is everywhere,

and the morons gobble it up--just can't get enough of it.

[Cronos]

I agree with sins (btw, what does your tagname stand for??) —>, anyone who has read that book realises what a madman hitty was and I can’t imagine anyone who has actually READ the book, following him — after reading the book, I became extremely anti-nutzi, whereas before I never really bothered (I’m American btw, now living in Poland, married to Pole, so am terrible anti-N now :)

[MuttTheHoople]

Hitler was against effeminate Homosexuals. The Nazi party was jam-packed with ultra-Macho homosexuals who thought it “unmanly” to be with women. Hitler purged the Nazi party of them when it became clear that he needed the Army’s support to consolidate power.

[dfwgator]

The main problem with the SA was that it was full of Communists, who weren’t any different than the Soviet Communists, except that they hated Jews. They wanted a complete government takeover of all businesses.

Hitler knew that he needed the support of the German industrialists, if he was going to build his war machine, and he gave them assurances that the SA would be wiped out, in return for their support.

[americanophile]

Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn’t necessarily make him anti-Indian and from the Muslim perspective associating India with the world’s supreme Jew-killer wouldn’t exactly be a negative.

[dfwgator]

The Russians are swine! Just one step above the Poles! Two steps above the Gypsies! Four steps above the Homosexuals! Five steps above the Negros! Nine steps above the Dwarves! Fifteen steps above the Gypsy Homosexuals! Twenty-seven steps above the Negro Gypsy Homosexual Dwarves! And forty-three steps above the Jews! Did I mention the Homosexual Jews? Right! The meeting is over!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

from the Muslim perspective associating India with the world’s supreme Jew-killer wouldn’t exactly be a negative.

Well, while the writer appears to be a Muslim, he isn't writing for the Muslim perspective. He's writing for the BBC, and most of it's readers aren't Muslim.

I just find the lack of substance in the story interesting. India is hardly remarkable for it's sales of Mein Kampf - other countries, including the US, routinely buy the book in greater numbers. Indians apparently bought 100,000 copies over 10 years - at that rate it would take a century for one-tenth of one percent of India's population to have read it. Such microscopically small interest by Indians in the book hardly seems to merit attention.

Why do Mr. Ahmed and the BBC consider this newsworthy? Why not the 100,000 sold in Turkey over two months - Turkey, after all, is a nation which is turning from a recent friend into an enemy of Israel right in front of our eyes.

And yet I remember this meme about Hitler's popularity in India getting press coverage over a year ago, using the same sales figures. I smell an agenda.