My daughter made the point that one or another A.H. managed to persuade an awful lot of people that his way was right well before he gained the military muscle to push though things by force. As she is studying history and philosophy she therefore read Mein Kampf in order to increase her understanding how this happened. Now everyone assumes she supports the Nazis just because the book is on her shelf even though virtually every other point of view is also represented. It would be simple to throw the book away to reduce the problem, but that's just another variation of book - burning.

It is over-simplifying to just say Hitler was a bad man as if that's all there was too it. But its almost impossible to have any discussion beyond that without people assuming you are a supporter of him.

And just in case you fall into the trap of thinking I am defending the Nazi regime in any way: my sister lives near the Belsen-Bergen camp and I usually spend an hour or two there when I visit her. On one occasion we went with a German friend of hers who had offered some bread to a Jew when they were being marched into the camp. Straightaway, one of the guards cut off her arm with a bayonet. Stories like that highlight the reality of the regime.