Story highlights
Book is slated for 6th edition after heavy sales in Germany
Mostly purchased by history enthusiasts, according to book publisher
CNN —In January 2016, the Institute of Contemporary History released the first reprint of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” since World War II. One year on, the German publisher says the book has sold some 85,000 copies and spent 35 weeks on Der Spiegel non-fiction best-seller list.
Dr. Magnus Brechtken, deputy director of the Institute of Contemporary History, told CNN the institute was “quite surprised” that public interest in the book was so strong in Germany.
The Munich based institute, which has previously published annotated editions of “Hitler’s Speeches, Writings and Directives, 1923-1933,” “Hitler’s Second Book” and the diaries of ranking Nazis Joseph Goebbels and Alfred Rosenberg, said they initially planned to print 4,000 copies of the new edition.
But shortly after announcing its release, the institute received 15,000 pre-orders.
Now, the book is in its 5th edition, with plans to publish a 6th slated for later this month.
Who is buying the book?
Feedback from the book’s distributors suggests most people purchasing the new edition are academics or people with a keen interest in historical events.
“People who are reading history books in general, like a biography of Hitler or a book on the Third Reich, are interested in getting basic research information on a text which has not been available in a critical edition so far,” Brechtken said.
The new, critical edition of "Mein Kampf" augments Hitler's original text with critical analysis. Johannes Simon/Getty Images Europe/Getty ImagesHe added that critics concerned that the new edition could incite negative outcomes from far right groups should not be worried.
The annotated edition counters Hitler’s original text and is the antithesis of their ideology, he said.
“In my opinion, far right groups are mostly unhappy with the new edition,” Brechtken said.
“We had no reaction from the far right because they don’t like the book. For them, they want the text just as it was in the original – they don’t like that we have a critical edition, which is exactly why we have this edition.”
“People who might want to read something from Hitler will never follow any of his thoughts when they are reading our book because Hitler is completely deconstructed in our edition,” he said.
In a statement posted to the Central Council of Jews in Germany’s website prior to the reprint’s release, council president Dr. Josef Schuster said, “The Central Council of Jews in Germany is convinced that Hitler’s scorning propaganda ‘Mein Kampf’ must remain prohibited,” but that the group would “not object to a critical edition, contrasting Hitler’s racial theories with scientific findings, to be at the disposal of research and teaching.”
German troops march through occupied Warsaw, Poland, after invading the nation on September 1, 1939, and igniting World War II. FPG/Getty Images 
German Chancellor Adolf Hitler speaks to Nazi party officials in 1939, the year of the German blitzkrieg into Poland. Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium soon fell under German control. When France came under occupation less than a year later, Britain was the only remaining Western European nation fighting the Third Reich, and the United States had not yet entered the war. AFP/Getty Images 
In Asia, Japanese troops occupy a strategic point on Chusan Island on July 14,1939, during the Sino-Japanese War. Japan signed the Tripartite Pact in 1940, formally allying with Germany and Italy, and by 1942 most of the Asian Pacific Rim had come under its domination. Keystone/Getty Images 
German soldiers on the Esplanade du Trocadero view the Eiffel Tower. In June 1940, German troops marched into Paris, forcing France to capitulate and establish the pro-Axis Vichy French government. Pierre Jahan.Roger Violle/Getty Images 
British Hawker Hurricanes fly in formation during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The planes were a first line of defense against German bombers attacking England. The battle, fought between July 10 and October 31, 1940, was the first major battle to be won in the air. The Royal Air Force's victory thwarted Hitler's plans for invading Britain. Print Collector/Getty Images 
Smoke rises behind Tower Bridge during the first mass daylight bombing of London on September 7, 1940. Fotosearch/Getty Images 
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, left, with Hitler, center, and other leading Nazis, visits Germany during the war. Italy and Germany formed an alliance before the outbreak of war, but Italy remained a non-belligerent until June 10, 1940, when it declared war on Britain and France. Fighting spread to Greece and North Africa. Keystone/Getty Images 
German tanks and infantry attack Soviet positions on the Eastern Front. On June 22, 1941, Germany broke its Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union, launching the bloodiest theater of the war. Though the estimates vary greatly, Russia suffered the most war casualties of any nation in World War II -- as many as 13.8 million military deaths. Estimates of civilian deaths from military action, crimes against humanity, starvation and disease are as high as 9 million. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
A view of U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. The USS West Virginia and USS Tennessee are in the foreground. The attack destroyed more than half the fleet of aircraft and damaged or destroyed eight battleships. Japan also attacked Clark and Iba airfields in the Philippines, destroying more than half the U.S. Army's aircraft there. US Navy/Getty Images 
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941. Italy and Germany immediately declared war on the United States, and on December 11, Roosevelt signed the U.S. declarations of war against those nations. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
British prisoners of war leave Hong Kong for a Japanese prison camp in December 1941. Keystone/Getty Images 
Anti-aircraft fire glows over Algiers during a night raid on November 23, 1942. In 1942, the Allies stopped the Axis advance in North Africa and the Soviet Union. Getty Images 
Black smoke rises from demolished buildings after Japanese air forces attacked the U.S. Navy base on Midway Atoll during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The four-day battle became a major victory for the U.S. Navy, which sunk four Japanese aircraft carriers, and it marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
Balloon operators from Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force, or WAAF, report for inspection in a hangar used to store balloons, at a facility in the UK. During World War II, women played a significant role in the war effort. They took jobs in "defense plants and volunteered for war-related organizations, in addition to managing their households," according to the World War II museum in New Orleans. Keystone Features/Getty Images 
British troops land near Algiers, Algeria, during Operation Torch in November 1942. Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of Vichy-held French North Africa, and marked the first major action by the Western allies against the German army. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
Soviet soldiers advance against the German army during the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle for the city on the Volga River (present-day Volgograd) was a major defeat for Germany and a turning point in the war. The battle lasted more than five months, ending in February 1943, at the cost of at least 160,000 German soldiers killed or captured. However, even conservative estimates of Russian casualties are much higher. AFP/GettyImages 
German prisoners captured at the beachhead of Anzio, Italy, leave a landing craft on their way to a prison camp in 1944. The amphibious landing and ensuing battle helped Allied forces break a months-long stalemate south of Rome and ultimately defeat the Germans in Italy. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
French refugees live in a quarry near Fleury sur Orne. During the bombing in that area, 20,000 refugees lived in the quarries. PNA Rota/Getty Images 
U.S. troops assault Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. On D-Day, Allied forces landed on five beaches -- Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword -- taking the first step in establishing the Western Front in Europe. The landing included more than 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and 150,000 soldiers. More than 35,000 Allied troops were killed during the Normandy Campaign, which lasted till the end of August 1944. Robert Capa/Magnum Photos 
A crowd gathers to cheer Gen. Charles de Gaulle at the Place de la Concorde on August 26, 1944, a day after the liberation of Paris. AFP/Getty Images 
Soldiers of an infantry division move into the mist over a snow-covered field near Krinkelter, Belgium, on December 20, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, a surprise German counter-offensive against Allied forces as they closed in on German soil from the west. It resulted in more combined U.S. losses (nearly 90,000 killed, wounded or captured) than any battle of the war. Fotosearch/Getty Images 
U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island was essential to launching land-based bombers against Japan. It was the bloodiest battle in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps, which suffered more than 27,000 casualties. Of some 18,000 Japanese soldiers defending the island, 216 survived. Joe Rosenthal/AP 
German prisoners captured at Friedrichsfeld march through a town in Germany after the crossing of the Rhine River by the U.S. 9th Army on March 26, 1945. Fred Ramage/Keystone/Getty Images 
From left, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Russian Premier Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference on February 1945. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
Prisoners line block 61 of Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. The construction of Buchenwald started July 15, 1937, and the camp was liberated by U.S. Gen. George Patton's troops on April 11, 1945. Between 239,000 and 250,000 people were imprisoned in the camp. About 56,000 died, including 11,000 Jews. Eric Schwab/AFP/Getty Images 
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession goes down Connecticut Avenue on its way to the White House. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia, just weeks before Germany's surrender. Keystone/Getty Images 
Harry S. Truman takes the oath of office on April 12, 1945, as he becomes the 33rd president of the United States. Standing beside him are his wife, Bess, and daughter Margaret. Central Press/Getty Images 
The bodies of Benito Mussolini, left, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, second from left, hang from the roof of a gasoline station after they were shot by anti-Fascist forces while attempting to escape to Switzerland on April 28, 1945. Keystone/Getty Images 
Russian soldiers wave their flag, made from tablecloths, over the ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin on April 30, 1945. That day, as the Soviets were within blocks of his bunker at the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Yevgeny Khaldei/Getty Images 
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses the celebrating crowds from the balcony of the Ministry of Health in Whitehall, London, on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. The war in Europe was officially over. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
Soldiers rush an injured U.S. Marine from a battlefield during the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945. The battle, the bloodiest of the war in the Pacific, raged for nearly three months and heightened U.S. concerns for the enormous casualties that could be anticipated in the planned invasion of Japan's main islands. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
A photograph on display at the Bradbury Science Museum shows the first instant of the first atomic bomb test, on July 16, 1945, at 5:29 a.m. at Trinity Site in New Mexico. The Potsdam Declaration, announced 10 days later, called for Japan's unconditional surrender, threatening "prompt and utter destruction." It did not, however, specifically mention the bomb. Getty Images 
Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., center, stands with the ground crew of the B-29 bomber "Enola Gay," which Tibbets piloted on August 6, 1945. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, that day killed an estimated 130,000 people. AFP/Getty Images 
A patient suffering severe radiation burns lies in the Hiroshima Red Cross hospital in August 1945. Many of those who survived the initial blast on August 6 died of severe radiation-related injuries and illnesses. Hajime Miyatake/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Image 
A dense column of smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over Nagasaki, the result of an atomic bomb dropped on August 9, 1945. An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 were killed in the Nagasaki blast. Six days later, a little after noon local time on August 15, Emperor Hirohito's announcement that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast on radio. Japan had surrendered. National Archives/Getty Images 
A jubilant American sailor kisses a nurse in New York's Times Square on August 14, 1945, as he celebrates the news that Japan has surrendered. (Because of the time difference between the two nations, the surrender occurred August 15 in Japan). Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life/Getty Images 
Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, officially bringing World War II to an end. Overseeing the surrender is U.S. Gen. Douglas McArthur (right, back to camera). Pool/Life/APWorld War II in pictures
Prev NextHow it was commissioned
At the end of World War II, the Allies transferred the book’s copyright to the German state of Bavaria, with the condition that reprints would be banned.
When the book’s copyright ran out on December 31, 2015, the Institute for Contemporary History decided to issue the annotated version to expose the “lies, half-truths and vicious tirades” of the Nazi regime, which ended in the deaths of millions of people during World War II.
Nazi era poster pitches Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf" as "The book of Germans," and boasts 4 million copies. Eher Publishing (defunct Nazi publishing organ)Brechtken says that in the 70 years that have passed since World War II, an annotated version detailing new research into the rise of national socialism adds an important academic framework in order to study the controversial text within a wider context.
The original version of “Mein Kampf,” was around 600 pages long and featured a stylized picture of Hitler with the words “Mein Kampf” on a stylized red banner.
The institute’s critical edition adds about 1,300 pages to the original text and drops the original artwork.
Republication of original still illegal
Hitler wrote “Mein Kampf”, which means “My struggle” in German, in two volumes between 1924 and 1926.
He wrote the first volume – largely autobiographical – from a prison cell after the Nazi party was banned after a failed attempted coup in 1923.
The second volume, which details the Nazi’s political ambitions, was written while on retreat.
1933: Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945), chancellor of Germany, is welcomed by supporters at Nuremberg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesMore than 12 million copies of the Nazi leader’s manifesto were originally published, but were burned after the war.
Several hundreds of thousands of “Mein Kampf” originals survived and can still be found in antique stores and historical bookshops, according to the institute.
Germany’s justice system vows that any republication or distribution of the original without proper annotation remains illegal.
CNN’s Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.
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