The decision to republish Mein Kampf in Germany for the first time in 75 years is understandably controversial. The textbook of National Socialism is, to quote Jewish groups, “outside of human logic” – a manifesto for evil so impossible to comprehend that it’s not immediately obvious what good could be accomplished by publishing it. Especially at a time when many Jews feel they are the target of a fresh wave of persecution, or when German race relations are in turmoil.
I’m not going to make a clean, libertarian case for publishing Mein Kampf. Free speech is a precious thing, but Nazism has such a unique criminal record that normal laws of civil society are suspended when considering it (as Germany’s ban on Holocaust denial demonstrates). Nevertheless, I would defend this publication on the following pragmatic grounds.
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