Counterspin: Anti-Semitic Literature Is Not Only Present in Ukraine and it Cannot Justify the Russian Aggression

In early January 2022, a collection of Nazi and anti-Semitic literature, consisting of Adolf Hitler’s “My Struggle”, Henry Ford’s “International Judaism”, and Orey Walt’s “People-Rats”‚ was released for sale in the Ukrainian Hypermarket. “Epicenter.” Source: https://strana.today/news/370487-v-epitsentre-v-prodazhe-pojavilis-natsistskie-knihi.html?fbclid=IwAR3NiFuULzdDDBZnyrV5L2_wNl8-oW0hbbl6w55twgM_I7Ag9nVDU-oFEuk

[Source: Facebook page of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Skopje – date: March 29, 2022]

COUNTERSPIN:

The Russian Embassy in Skopje in a post published on March 29 informed that at the beginning of January 2022, a collection of Nazi and anti-Semitic literature, consisting of the books “My Struggle” by Adolf Hitler, “International Judaism” by Henry Ford and “People – Rats “by Orey Walt was put up for sale in the Ukrainian hypermarket” Epicenter “. It is a twisted truth, i.e. spin.

Indeed, Strana.ua published a text on January 6, 2022, in which it informs that the three books are sold in the Epicenter hypermarket chain, at a price of 1,499 Ukrainian hryvnias. It is also true that this move by the Ukrainian supermarket chain provoked a reaction from the Jewish community in Ukraine, but still, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in North Macedonia forgot to remind us that this hypermarket chain only a few days later officially apologized for selling the three books.

On January 12, 2022, Obozravatel.ua wrote about the official apology sent by “Epicenter” to the Jewish community in Ukraine, explaining that it is an online sales platform, on which products can be sold by other companies. Immediately after the reaction of the Jewish community, “Epicenter” removed the disputed books from sale. At the same time, the hypermarket chain explained that the company LasKnigas appears as a seller of anti-Semitic literature. The Epicenter also said it condemned the propaganda of Nazism and fascism.

But when it comes to the sale and distribution of anti-Semitic and Nazi literature, Meta.mk searched and found the Russian-language edition of Adolf Hitler’s book “My Struggle,” which was published by the T-Oko publishing house in Moscow back in 1992. We managed to download one of the editions of the controversial book by Adolf Hitler for free in Russian at the following link.

The second book that we managed to find in Russian, which the Russian Embassy in Skopje says is proof of the existence of Nazism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine, is the book “People- Rats” by Oray Wallot, the content of which has also been published and available in Russian. This book was published by the Russian publisher Svekrasaf in 2010, and it is also available through the online bookstore combook.ru. It is true that copies of the book cannot be purchased online at this time, but by submitting an email and telephone number, the seller can check in stock for the remaining copies of the book.

The disputed books to which the Embassy of the Russian Federation in North Macedonia reacts can also be purchased in Russia, and some of them can be purchased in Macedonian in our country. The publishing house “Gjurgja” published the book “My Struggle” by Adolf Hitler a few years ago (first published in 2005 and is one of the best-selling works in Macedonia), together with the book “My Order of the World” and “The Jewish Question and Christianity “by Hitler. It is noteworthy that the publishing house “Gjurgja” also published the book “Words that change the world” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It published quotes from Putin’s speeches, in which he stood “among the most quoted former and current world politicians”.

Photo: Printscreen of the FB post

When it comes to the three controversial books that the Russian Embassy in Skopje writes about in its post, a simple Google search reveals that there are re-publications of anti-Semitic and Nazi literature in numerous countries around the world.

On June 1, 2021, France 24 announced that the French publishing house Fayard had published a new edition of Adolf Hitler’s book “My Struggle” in French. The publisher’s intention is to “disarm” Nazi ideology among French readers and even changed the title of the book to Historiciser le mal, une edition critique de Mein Kampf. Deutsche Welle writes in English for this French edition that only 10,000 copies of the book will be printed, and that it was planned to sell for 100 euros per copy, while the profit will be donated to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation (Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of the most notorious camps during World War II).

In late August 2021, The Times reported that the book had become a summer bestseller in France, with an almost complete sale of 10,000 copies and an order from the publishing house Fayard for a second edition.

“My Struggle” by Adolf Hitler was republished in 2016 in Germany, and in one year after its publication, 85,000 copies of this book were sold, writes Deutsche Welle in English. The re-publication in Germany came at the end of 2015, when the 50-year deadline for owning the copyright to the controversial work, owned by the Bavarian government, expired.

Similar to Ukraine, the book “My Struggle” by Adolf Hitler was withdrawn from sale in Finland at the end of December 2021 and could be purchased at several online bookstores in Finnish. This Finnish edition was criticized by the Finnish public for not containing a scientific preface, after which it was revealed that the publisher of this book in Finland had links with a neo-Nazi group in the country that was banned in 2020, reports yle.fi.

From our research, we are convinced that the three books disputed by the Russian Embassy in North Macedonia can be purchased in different languages in several foreign countries, that the reprints of the republished editions are almost completely sold out, but also that there is an expert debate as is the case and in North Macedonia, about their issuance. However, the popularity of these and other similar books does not make Nazi the societies in which they were published, and the only thing unclear in the whole situation with the Facebook post of the Russian Embassy in Skopje is whether Russia plans to “denationalize” other foreign countries following the example of Ukraine.

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in North Macedonia in the period after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, constantly publishes posts on Facebook, in which, as they claim, “with facts expose the existence of Nazism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine in the period 2021-2022 “. According to the Russian point of view, the presence and military activities of the Russian army on foreign territory in Ukraine is a “military operation for denationalization and demilitarization” of this country.

However, in view of the above facts, it can be assessed that the post on the sale of anti-Semitic and Nazi literature from the Ukrainian hypermarket chain Epicenter should serve the Russian propaganda machinery as a basis for justifying the “military operation of denationalization and denationalization” of Ukraine in the eyes of the Macedonian public. Just as Russia’s military actions in Ukraine have been described by most countries in the world as “military aggression” or “military invasion”, so the post of the Russian Embassy in North Macedonia on the sale of the three disputed books in Ukraine can be assessed as spin.