Editing Mein Kampf (section)

=== France ===
In 1934, the French government unofficially sponsored the publication of an unauthorized translation. It was meant as a warning and included a critical introduction by [[Hubert Lyautey|Marshal Lyautey]] ("Every Frenchman must read this book"). It was published by [[far-right]] publisher [[Fernand Sorlot]] in an agreement with the activists of [[LICRA]] who bought 5,000 copies to be offered to "influential people"; however, most of them treated the book as a casual gift and did not read it.<ref>{{cite book|first=Marcel| last=Bleustein-Blanchet|author-link=Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet|location=Paris|title=Les mots de ma vie|language=fr|trans-title=The words of my life|publisher=Robert Laffont|year=1990|page=271|isbn=2221067959}}</ref> The Nazi regime unsuccessfully tried to have it forbidden. Hitler, as the author, and [[Eher-Verlag]], his German publisher, had to sue for [[copyright infringement]] in the [[Commercial Court (France)|Commercial Court]] of France. Hitler's lawsuit succeeded in having all copies seized, the print broken up, and having an [[injunction]] against booksellers offering any copies. However, a large quantity of books had already been shipped and stayed available undercover by Sorlot.<ref name=point/>

In 1938, Hitler licensed for France an authorized edition by [[Fayard]], translated by François Dauture and [[Georges Blond]], without the threatening tone against France of the original. The French edition was 347 pages long, while the original title was 687 pages, and it was titled {{lang|fr|Ma doctrine}} ("My doctrine").<ref name=barnes>{{cite book|first1=James J.| last1=Barnes|first2=Patience P.| last2=Barnes|location=Cambridge, England|title=Hitler's Mein Kampf in Britain and America: A Publishing History 1930–39|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2008|page=271|isbn=978-0521072670}}</ref> After the war, Fernand Sorlot re-edited, re-issued, and continued to sell the work, without permission from the [[state of Bavaria]], to which the author's rights had defaulted. In the 1970s, the rise of the extreme right in France along with the growing of [[Holocaust denial]] works, placed {{lang|de|Mein Kampf}} under judicial watch, and in 1978 LICRA entered a complaint in the courts against the publisher for inciting [[antisemitism]]. Sorlot was issued a "substantial fine", but the court also granted him the right to continue publishing the work, provided certain warnings and qualifiers accompanied the text.<ref name=point>{{cite news|last=Braganca|first=Manu|date=10 June 2016|title=La curieuse histoire de Mein Kampf en version française|url=https://www.lepoint.fr/histoire/la-curieuse-histoire-de-mein-kampf-en-version-francaise-10-06-2016-2045729_1615.php|language=fr|trans-title=The curious history of Mein Kampf in the french version|work=[[Le Point]]|access-date=4 June 2019|archive-date=4 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604092712/https://www.lepoint.fr/histoire/la-curieuse-histoire-de-mein-kampf-en-version-francaise-10-06-2016-2045729_1615.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 1 January 2016, 70 years after Hitler's death, {{lang|de|Mein Kampf}} entered the [[public domain]] in France.<ref name=point/> A new edition was published in 2017 by Fayard, now part of the [[Hachette (publisher)|Groupe Hachette]], with a critical introduction like the 2018 edition published  in Germany by the {{lang|de|[[Institut für Zeitgeschichte]]}}.<ref name=point/> In 2021, a 1,000-page critical edition, based on the German edition of 2016, was published in France. Titled ''Historiciser le mal: Une édition critique de Mein Kampf'' ('Historicizing Evil: A Critical Edition of Mein Kampf'), with almost twice as much commentary as text, it was edited by Florent Brayard and Andraes Wirsching, translated by Olivier Mannoni, and published by Fayard. The print run was deliberately kept small at 10,000, available only by special order, with copies set aside for public libraries. Proceeds from the sale of the edition were earmarked for the [[Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation]]. Some critics who had objected in advance to the edition's publication had fewer objections upon publication. One historian noted that there were so many annotations that Hitler's text had become "secondary."<ref name=historicizing>{{cite news|first=Aurelien|last=Bredeen|date=2 June 2021|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/world/europe/france-hitler-mein-kampf.html|title=Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Gets New French Edition, With Each Lie Annotated|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=3 June 2021|archive-date=3 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603222854/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/world/europe/france-hitler-mein-kampf.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur|url-status=live}}</ref>