Mein Kampf

Title: Mein Kampf
Author: Adolf Hitler
Publisher: Jainco Publishers (First published 1926)
ISBN: 9788189474065
Pages: 581

First of all, let me confess that this is not a review of the title mentioned above, but of Mein Kampf itself, because Goodreads does not allow me to add that title nor a review of it. The need for this illogical censoring is hard to comprehend because only by the interchange of ideas can a regressive system could be kept in check. So, let's get back to Adolf Hitler and his book. This man, who found Germany lying prostrated after the defeat in World War I, found a scapegoat in the Jewish community for the defeat and then tried to exterminate them, in the process wrecking Germany in toto in another world war. Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. I sought in this book the answer to the question that was in my mind for a long time – what made this man go after a miniscule community that had been living in Germany for centuries? Unfortunately, the answer could not be found. Even with the rabid anti-Semitic rant running from cover to cover, hints of a drastic measure such as the Holocaust is not to be seen. What Hitler repeatedly asserts in the text is that while the written word is for the intellectuals, the masses need the spoken word to get mobilized. Hence it is likely that he had chosen a sanitized version of his real thought in the book. Moreover, he started writing this book in 1924 while serving a prison sentence in the fortress of Landsberg am Lech when there was no prospect for him to ever achieve absolute power in Germany. This is organized in two volumes. The first covers Hitler's life, his migration from Austria to Germany and the foundation of the National Socialist Labour party. Volume 2 covers the ideals of the movement and was published in 1926, long before the party had any serious chance of assuming power. 

The first part, or volume 1, of the book covers the life of Hitler only in the broadest outline. There's no mention about his mother or siblings. Even the problems he faced in education and employment are utilized for buttressing the arguments of the Nazi movement. He makes some general observations in this volume. One is that every great movement on this earth owes its growth to great speakers and not to great writers. Obviously, he has only the demagogues in mind. The tactical object of a fight of the party was the winning over of the child in school. So, the first rallying cry should be addressed to the child. Hitler wants the study of history to be a search for and discover the forces that are the causes of those results which appear before our eyes as historical events. He also ascertains that people should be aware of the political situation in a country. Those who have no understanding of the political world around them have no right to criticize or complain. The importance of the politician is a concept that is frequently stressed in this book. Only in rare cases are kings found to be models of wisdom and understanding and integrity of character, though we might like to think otherwise. 

Hitler makes a survey of political systems that allegedly strived to keep Germany vanquished and identifies Marxism and Judaism as the culprits. He denies the religious nature of the latter and asserts that since the ideal of the Jew is world domination, it must be regarded as a political system and not religious. His antagonism with social democrats is evident in its equalisation with communism. He then makes a tirade on them, dripping with contempt in every sentence. He alleges that everything that was considered worthy are disparaged by the Marxists. The nation was deemed to be an invention of the capitalist class and the fatherland was an instrument of the bourgeoisie for the exploitation of the working masses. Rule of law, according to them, was a means of holding down the proletariat, religion a means to dope the people and morality a badge of stupid and sheepish docility. There was nothing that they did not drag in the mud. He takes on the employers who refuse to listen to the changing times and claims that there are employers who lack social understanding and have wrong ideas of justice and fair play. Against such people, it is not only the right but the duty of their employees to protect their interests by forming a trade union. Freedom of the press is alleged to be a euphemism under which journalists escape legal punishment for deceiving the public and poisoning the public mind. 

Hitler had strong likes and dislikes not just to people or races but also to places. He loved Munich, to which city he migrated from Vienna in 1912. He abhorred Vienna which was thought to be a 'Babylon of races'. Being an artist himself, Hitler states that one must know Munich if one wants to know Germany because Munich is called the metropolis of German art. What is striking in Hitler's narrative is the shockingly low regard he displays towards the masses whom he treats as nothing more than asses. He asserts that the broad masses possess 'a very short measure of thinking power'. A large section of them is claimed to believe that a person who is incomprehensible must be profoundly wise. Not only that, the masses are first set in motion along a definite direction by men of superior talents, but once in motion, they are like a flywheel to sustain the momentum. A politician who follows policies of value and significance for the future, Hitler says, is not understood by the mass of the people who find 'beer and milk' a more persuasive index of political values than far-sighted plans for the future. Hitler exhibits an underlying trust in the necessity of God to manage the society. He is never against the church nor does he belong to it. He believed that he is doing work to make the society conform to what god had willed. Often he refers to the eternal entity as 'Creator'. The concept of councils or parliament to act as a check on the power of a single individual was anathema to him. He stresses again and again that the majority can never replace the man. The majority is said to represent only ignorance and cowardice. A majority of ignorant and incompetent pass judgment on profound issues affecting the nation. Discussions are alleged to be conducted in an atmosphere befitting a card table which seems to be a much more fitting occupation for most of the deputies. Hitler opposed birth control. He envisaged a trouble-free expansion of population and competition between individuals for survival. In such a case, only healthy and strong individuals will survive. On the other hand, birth control brings to life fewer individuals and the drive to save feeble and diseased creatures will become strong. A worthless generation of human progeny will result. Here, direct traces of eugenics can be seen. He also puts forward early marriages as an alternative to prostitution and the venereal diseases it brings about. He intends that the only meaning of marriage is the increasing and maintaining the human species and the race. 

As we know, Hitler's downfall was directly caused by his rabid ideas on racial superiority and anti-Semitism. He describes about his early experiences with Jews in a way he interacted with an animal. In school, he knew a Jewish boy but all were 'on their guard in their relations with him'. In a disgusting narrative, Hitler evaluates the Jewish community in his home town of Linz. He finds that over the centuries the Jews 'had become Europeanized in external appearance and were so much like other human beings'. He reminisces that in Vienna, he looked at anti-Semitic newspapers with disgust. Then he changes track and blurts out that they 'do not wash and the odour of these people would make him sick'. He accuses them of dominating the press and theatre and vilifying the German nation while praising the virtues of the racially mixed French nation. Marxism is claimed to be a handiwork of the Jews that would bring only disaster to people who follow it. Again, he blames the Jews of lacking any sense of working for ideals and to sacrifice one's life for the society. The absence of a Jewish state in the world (at that time!) is construed as proof of this accusation. According to Hitler, the highest aim of human existence is not the maintenance of a state or government but the conservation of the race. The world is not there to be possessed by faint-hearted, inferior races. Results of inter-racial breeding are said to be that the level of the superior race becomes lowered and physical and mental degeneration sets in in the offspring. In order to preserve a certain culture, the type of manhood that creates such a culture must be preserved. 

In the second part of the narrative, Hitler expounds on the core philosophy of the National Socialist movement and the required changes in German foreign policy if his party came to power. He proposes colonization and exploitation of other nations to enrich his. He argues that vast, uncultivated open spaces all around the globe are not to be held unutilized in reserve for the future. Such land awaits people who have the strength to acquire it. Instead of looking for colonies in Africa and Asia and thereby antagonizing England, he advocates colonization of exploitable farm land in Russia in alliance with England. He is willing to sacrifice German navy if that would please England to remain in league with them. Hitler believes Nordic whites to constitute the Aryan race and imagines it to be superior to all others in the world. He postulates that every manifestation of human culture, every product of art, science and technical skill was almost exclusively the product of the Aryan creative power. He then finds the culturally rich Asian communities contradicting his hypothesis and retorts that the culture that is seen in Asian societies was created by Aryans who intermingled with them and got degenerated. The other races serve the purpose of the horse, to bring mechanical power to the creative enterprise of the Aryans. Whenever he talks about race, he brings in the Jew and claims that as long as a people remain racially pure and are conscious of the treasure of their blood, they can never be overcome by the Jew. A state is not an end; it is only a means to preserve the human race which has the potential to build a culture through the innate qualities pertaining to that race and bitterly complain that the then existing German state was not based on a uniform racial type. The Swastika in the Nazi flag signified the mission to struggle for the victory of the Aryan race.

Hitler often stresses on the Weltanschauung of the Nazi movement which can loosely be approximated as 'worldview'. It recognizes the significance of race and personal worth rather than collective work. It is interesting to have a glance at his future targets. The parliamentarian principle will be expurgated and personal responsibility will be substituted in its stead. For this to happen, the best brains (Aryans) should reach a position of dominant importance and influence in the community. Parliament can still be accommodated by restricting its role to an advisory council instead of decision making. The responsibility can and must be borne by one individual, who alone will be vested with authority and the right to command. Hitler seems to be exasperated with the presence of intellectuals in political movements and wants workers who blindly follow the leader. He suggests that a political movement will not be very effective in fighting if it were made up exclusively of intellectuals. He diligently balances the Protestant and Catholic elements in German society and admonishes each from attacking the other. In a chilling evocation of the eugenic spirit, Hitler advocates forced sterilizing of syphilitics, those suffering from tuberculosis or hereditary diseases, cripples and imbeciles. His advice for such people is to adopt healthy children and raise them as worthy of the 'race'. Hitler is full of ideas on how to change the school curriculum to reflect his party's goals. Science subjects need not be given special focus but emphasis must be made on subjects such as ancient history in such a way that the concept of 'race' is clearly brought out. Physical training should be made mandatory for all children. It should extend to a minimum of two hours per day with special encouragement for practising boxing. People who have a beautiful physique should be brought into the foreground, so that they might encourage the development of a beautiful bodily form among the people in general. The book also exposes Hitler's real opinion on the freedom movements then going in European colonies in Asia and Africa, India being a prominent case. Several leaders had gone to Germany to seek and enlist its assistance because Germany was the biggest rival to Britain. An organization called the 'League of Oppressed Nations' came into being, which requested the German intelligentsia for support. Hitler describes such people as charlatans who had no backing at home and not authorized by anybody. He advises not to waste time meeting such people and goes on to predict that England will never lose India unless it admits racial disruption in her administrative machinery in India or if it was overcome by some other nation in a war. He further adds that as a German, he'd prefer to see India under British domination than under that of any other country. 

The narrative is so impersonal as to feel like it was written by a propaganda machine. The party and its wicked ideology are the only two motivating factors as far as Hitler was concerned. He quotes from classical works occasionally to prove a point but these are few and far between. The text overflows with ideas and the entire book can be thought of as a long speech with an adoring audience in front of the orator. He puts forward several theories as if they are well-accepted principles but are in fact nothing more than Hitler's half-baked whims. No evidence from history is cited for any of the arguments. It seems that he enjoyed his military service in World War I and cherished his frontline experience on the battlefield, by providing glowing and nostalgic memories of the fighting. The book includes several rare photographs of Hitler depicting various episodes in his life. The book is mediocre and the expressed ideas stand unproven. It is nothing better than 581 pages of hallucinating rant.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

The Broken Script

Title: The Broken Script – Delhi Under the East India Company and the Fall of the Mughal Dynasty
Author: Swapna Liddle
Publisher: Speaking Tiger, 2022 (First)
ISBN: 9789354473869
Pages: 413

1857 was the year in which the British colonial machine was interrupted for a short while in its pursuit of the conquest of India. The East India Company's Indian soldiers turned against their masters and the establishment lurched dangerously close to the point of capsizing. Luckily for them, India was divided as always. The Gurkhas, Sikhs and South Indian troops were not part of the revolt and in the end the British effectively used them to crush the rebellion. However, immense changes took place in the colonial administration thereafter. The policy of outright annexation was stopped entirely and the native princes were brought in as allies to manage their own states subject to the paramountcy of British power. This book tells the story of Delhi from the defeat of the Marathas who occupied it in 1803 till the 1857 rebellion. The Mughal emperor was a shadow of his previous self and was a puppet in the hands of the Marathas who however continued to show him respect and acknowledged him as their overlord. The British continued the etiquette but took steps to gradually take away his prerogatives and privileges. Then the mutiny came and along with it the chance the British were eagerly anticipating for a long while. The Mughal dynasty was deposed, the young princes shot dead and the emperor himself was exiled to Burma where he died a few years later. This book examines the political, cultural, intellectual and religious atmosphere in Delhi in the half century after the British ascent in 1803. Swapna Liddle is an Indian historian, author, art curator and heritage conservator based in Delhi. She is well known for her research of history of Delhi including its architecture and buildings. This book is based on her PhD research at the Jamia Millia Islamiya.

The book takes off from the Maratha period where the Mughal throne and its capital city securely lay in the hands of the Marathas. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was a Mughal emperor on the throne but the empire was largely gone. He was in effect a puppet and pensioner but with considerable symbolic authority over the vast territories that were still legally considered a part of the Mughal empire. Shah Alam II gave over to the East India Company effective rights of his realm and appointed them as the principal functionary of the empire after they defeated the Marathas at Patparganj near Delhi in 1803. The emperor and the royal household were constrained by the British, first from Calcutta and then by more powerful Residents at Delhi such as Metcalfe. The Mughal tried to petition the government in Calcutta, bypassing the Resident, but when it was revealed, the Resident cut down the emperor's stipend – which was in effect a pension. Akbar II's reaction was pitiful. He called himself a fool, pulled his own ears in token of deserving punishment and begged the pardon of Metcalfe in public. The company was any way targeting the humiliation of the emperor. The British then started building up a support base in Delhi by letting out land as jagirs in the time when the Marathas were not conclusively accounted for. This was a usurpation of the Mughal's power. But when the tide changed in their favour and peace led to great leaps in agricultural revenue, they started to resume jagirs and take back donated land and properties. To a culture which was attuned to rulers being generous with largesse, these measures stamped the new rulers as mean. The harshness of British exactions became the subject of popular lore. The balance of power continuously shifted in favour of the company and the emperor's dignity and independence eroded in proportion. The company closed down the Delhi mint which quietly produced coins in the name of Akbar II. The Governor General dropped the word 'fidwi' or 'servant of the Emperor' from his Persian seal. In 1827, Akbar II did away with the protocol when he met Governor General Lord Amherst and allowed him to sit in his presence, no nazars were presented and at the time of departure even stood up and took him by the arm. The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and the ensuing peace in Europe made the British more powerful than ever.

Even though the Mughals took power in India after wading through rivers of blood and inflicting irredeemable damage to our culture, the systematic humiliation meted out to them by the British evoke our pitiful sympathy. Every step, howsoever small it may be, was calculated to chip away something from the emperor's honour. In 1833, the British stopped the practice of paying the emperor's stipend on the first of the month if it fell on a Sunday or a holiday. The right to choose the successor was also appropriated by the colonial power. This led to amusing occurrences when there was natural rivalry among the princes. When Akbar II died in 1837, the heir apparent Abu Zafar (later known as Bahadur Shah Zafar) was already 62 years old. He immediately ordered preparations for coronation after he heard the news of his father's death at six in the evening. He was feeling insecure and feared a last-minute coup. The ceremony was at last held at three in the night! This also shows that even though devoid of power, it is the position that make people go after them. Zafar's writ ran only in the fort, but he held daily durbars where the issues discussed was petty, such as the complaint of the wife of the emperor's peon on domestic violence. The royal family had multiplied many times and lived in huts inside the fort in squalour and the fort had become overcrowded. The author accuses the British of not paying them enough to live. Bahadur Shah had eleven sons and 28 grandsons. The number of daughters is not given. Many relations left the fort and started living in the city thereby bringing them under the jurisdiction of the company like ordinary subjects. They were always in heavy debt. Creditors usually accosted the royals on the streets and abused them. They even went to the emperor's jharoka darshan and clamoured before him for a settlement of their dues. The stipend was a kind of privy purse and in early 1857, the British were actively considering to cut them off and to absorb the families in the mass of the population. Still, prospective sons vied with each other to formally succeed their father. Bahadur Shah's elder sons predeceased him. Mohammed Koeash, the eldest surviving son, appealed to the British to make him the heir apparent because of his religiosity. The only worthwhile qualities that he possessed for the post was that he had memorized the Quran and had made the Haj pilgrimage (p.166).

Liddle describes about the social conditions prevailing in Delhi during those times. The British prohibited the slave trade in Delhi in 1812, putting a stop to the sale of human beings which was rampant among the Mughals. Slaves, especially women, soon began to run away from the Red Fort. The royal family protested to the British that these women were 'legally' bought before the ban came into effect! These appeals were ignored. Another fact worth notice is the improving social position of Hindus and other non-Muslim communities from the shockingly degrading status of Dhimmis to subjects of somewhat equal privileges of Muslims. Harsukh Rai, a rich merchant of Delhi, built a temple and carried the idol to the new premises in a magnificent procession. Muslims protested at this because the Dhimmis were practically slaves till that time and were entitled only to carry out their religious rituals either in private or clandestinely. A riot ensued and several people were killed. Leading clerics such as Maulana Rafi ud-Din appealed to the emperor to exert his influence on behalf of the Muslims who were detained by the British. The British bluntly retorted to the emperor Akbar II that 'he was the king of Hindus as well', and that violence and looting could not be tolerated (p. 35). Sectarianism thrived in the Mughal camp even when it was obvious that the revolt was dying down. When Bahadur Shah asked his commander-in-chief to raise troops, he specifically remarked that these should be of the 'sharif qaum' or upper castes such as sayyids, Pathans and Mughals and not 'neech qaum' or lower castes (p. 318). At the height of the Rebellion in July 1857, the festival of Bakrid took place. Muslims threatened to slaughter cows during the festival. Bahadur Shah put his foot down and commanded not to let them do this. He ordered the kotwal (police chief) to round up all the cows belonging to Muslims and keep them under his custody till the festival was over. The kotwal pleaded the impracticality of the order at which the emperor asked him to take bonds from the owners not to kill them (p. 306). However, in the initial days when it seemed that the British were completely wiped out, a banner of jihad was seen raised atop the Jama Masjid on May 19. Hindus complained and Bahadur Shah ordered it to be taken down. In response, one of the senior ulema met him and admitted that the jihad had been declared against Hindus too (p. 305).

A very good survey of the cultural environment including literary pursuits and development in education is included in this book along with quotes from the ghazals and poem that exemplify the era. Adulatory verses penned by Urdu poets including Ghalib on the re-conquest of the British are provided with good effect. Opportunistic palace officials swayed with the wind and courted the British. Ghalib spared no effort to win the favour of British officials. Going one step further, he then stopped the customary couplets he used to write for the Mughals. A college was set up in Delhi which taught Arabic and Persian at first, but later included English as well which then turned out to be more popular than the former two. Persian was replaced by Urdu as the official language of correspondence and business in the 1830s. At the same time, the Governor General 'wished' that in future, correspondence with the dependent principalities would be carried out in English.

Liddle narrates the 1857 revolt and its aftermath in the life of Delhi and the Mughal dynasty. She describes the widespread massacre and loot that took place in the initial days in the city. About 50 British – mostly women and children – were rounded up and confined in a building inside the fort. They were later executed with sword. Jihadis continued their work here too. A Mrs. Aldwell and her children were spared death because they claimed they were Muslims and could recite the kalima (p. 286). Bahadur Shah's plight was unenviable. He was hesitant from the first to ally with the rebels, but he was not able to refuse the insistent and rather aggressive soldiers who invaded his palace. They did not treat him as worthy of any respect. They walked into the Diwan-e-Khas and stood on the carpets with their shoes on. Some of them addressed him as 'arre badshah' and took the liberty of touching his hand and beard. His orders were frequently flouted and it was said that his official seal was used by whichever of those around him pleased. The princes and their sons joined the rebels and took part in looting around the city for which they had to pay with their lives. Bahadur Shah's 'reign' lasted only four months. The British retook the city and shot the emperor's sons and grandsons, with and without trial. Shah, along with his close relatives were exiled to Rangoon where he died four years later at the age of 87. His wife, Zeenat Mahal, lived on in penury till 1882. Jawan Bakht, another son who did not participate in the rebellion, became an alcoholic and died in 1884 at the age of 42 and thereby the Mughal dynasty was snuffed out. The exact location of the emperor's grave was soon forgotten. Though a memorial now exists, it is only approximately where the grave is believed to be located. The British initially considered demolishing the Jama Masjid and Eidgah in Delhi but returned it to Muslims in 1862 on the condition that it was subject to the scrutiny and surveillance of civil and military officers who should be able to enter without restrictions as to shoes (p. 345).

The book is a very good one for getting to know Delhi in the transition period of the medieval merging into the modern. Even though it may appear heartless to say so, but the Mughals had had to go, because with such an anachronistic millstone around the neck, India could not have stepped on to the modern stage. Perhaps India would have spared the evils of partition a century later if the Mughals had continued, but the religious strife would've been unmanageable. The lesser evil is partition anyway. The book also contains a fine collection of paintings and rare, old photographs of the era. What is evident in the portraits is that the Mughal empire, as well as the individual rulers, had greyed beyond any use. The pictures of Akbar II and Bahadur Shah show two geriatrics appearing as if slightly confused about what was going on around them. The book also hosts a very fine discussion on the development of public education with a distinct oriental and English flavour. The vestiges of a PhD thesis are present in the work but this in no way disturbs the readers nor the reading experience is compromised. There are 956 end-notes and a bibliography spanning several pages. The title of the book is derived from an Urdu poem of the period lamenting the collapse of the city after 1857 penned by Sabir which runs:

"So unjustly have the buildings been razed in Delhi
It is fitting to inscribe in the shikastah the account of Delhi"

and shikasta means 'broken script'.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star