When the Herr Leutnant offers Mein Kampf to Olivier's character, the book is clearly only 150-200 pages in length. This is a mistake as the book was actually well over 600 pages long. In any case why would he offer a German book to someone who is French-Canadian and had given no sign of speaking German.
Olivier's wacky accent anticipates Allo, Allo.
Good point...but maybe it was the Cliff Notes condensed version of Uncle Adolf's novel.
CmdrCody
I have heard of at least one WWII era compact edition of "Mein Kampf" printed specifically for soldiers of the Wehrmacht. If anyone in the military kept a copy with him -- especially in a submarine -- that compact edition would appear to be his best choice.
shareGosh, I hope they didn't edit out the good parts.
shareIf my understanding is correct, the compact military edition of "Mein Kampf" was unabridged, but rather, used an extremely small typeface and very thin paper.
Except for the presence of telltale black ink stains in an extremely awkward area, by which one could get into trouble with one's more fanatical crew mates, the military edition of "Mein Kampf" would have made an acceptable substitute for the U-boat crews when toilet paper became scarce.
Actually, I did know that, thanks. I was only having a little fun at Hitler's expense.
I've heard that business about using "MK" for that, ahem, more mundane task aboard ship. At least such use had the merit of insuring that this book did some good...in the end.
Well as "Mein Kampf" translates as "My Struggle" it could be appropriate if you were in the "head" (the toilets on board ship) for a while
Steve
Toilets? I believe there was only one aboard a U-Boat. With 50 or more fellow crewmen pounding at the door, a Kampf indeed!
Not to mention that if one unlucky seaman it got clogged because he used one too many pages of Hitler's tome, the angry sailors would have created a whole new meaning for the Nazis' "Death Head" brigade.
[ -- Closest face I could find to Hitler!]
How ever did we get this scatalogical on this erstwhile pristine site?