When forced to decide whether to help translate Hitler's manifesto into English, Greta ultimately decides to work on the translation. Do you think she made the right decision? What do you think you would have done in her position?
Created: 02/27/20
Replies: 20
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3216
When forced to decide whether to help translate Hitler's manifesto into English, Greta ultimately decides to work on the translation. Do you think she made the right decision? What do you think you would have done in her position?
Join Date: 01/01/16
Posts: 393
Join Date: 01/22/18
Posts: 152
Absolutely. It was important for the world to understand how truly dangerous Hitler was although at the time, many people ignored that. If I had her abilities, I would have done the same.
Join Date: 02/28/20
Posts: 31
Yes I do. She really believed that if the German people read it they would see Hitler for the madman he was and would be a little more reticent in acting like he was a god.
Join Date: 02/08/16
Posts: 475
A true translation of the manifesto had to reach the outside world so they could know Hitler's true intentions. It was right of Greta to do the translation. If able to, I would have done the same.
Join Date: 07/16/19
Posts: 42
I would have also done the same, but I imagine it still would have been very difficult, as it would require getting close to the text on a certain level. I think it would have been more than a little disturbing to be a conduit for those particular words.
Join Date: 12/01/16
Posts: 292
I think what was the deciding factor was when she was told that a former prime minister of the UK read the watered-down version of Mein Kampf and didn't see the danger of Hitler. Can you imagine how shocked Greta was? Right then she knew she had to get the whole ugly document into print so others would truly understand.
Join Date: 07/28/11
Posts: 384
Join Date: 02/26/20
Posts: 5
Greta’s decision was heroic and necessary. I particularly liked it when she “pushed back” concerning Murphy’s desire to clarify and improve Hitler’s writing, disguising the monster he was. In researching this, I was surprised to learn there are multiple English translations of “Mein Kampf,” none of them authorized by Hitler. So it’s not clear that his thoughts come across in English. Murphy’s book did survive and was published-it’s available on Amazon. Murphy’s grandson has interesting insights on this in a BBC interview: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30697262
Join Date: 08/16/17
Posts: 158
I agree with the common consensus. If she had not done an accurate translation the world would not have known at his critical timethe vicious destructive words of Adolf Hitler.
Join Date: 06/13/11
Posts: 100
Greta was very brave to make this translation. She was so hopeful this would be published and the world outside Germany would read it and realize how mentally deranged Hitler was. So many of the German people thought he was a god and that was so scary.
Join Date: 01/25/20
Posts: 13
Join Date: 04/16/12
Posts: 24
I understood Greta's preliminary aversion to the whole idea. She did not want to perpetuate the hatred but then when she realized that if it was not literally translated no one would understand what the true meaning was. Sugar coating the message would not reveal Hitler's true intentions. I think she was very brave to sit with that message day in and day out for the good of all.
Join Date: 06/13/11
Posts: 272
Join Date: 01/25/16
Posts: 169
Although the idea of doing this job was abhorrent to Greta she agreed to translate the manifesto when she found out that others, having read Mein Kampf, did not see Hitler as the threat that he truly was. She wanted to translate it so that it read exactly as Hitler intended. The world needed to know how Hitler truly thought and what a danger he was. Whether or not I would have done the same thing, I would like to think so.
Join Date: 09/26/12
Posts: 153
Join Date: 09/08/12
Posts: 66
The motivation for her decision is more important than the task. Though it was risky if the translation could be read by people outside of Germany and bring awareness to the atrocities, then the decision was a good one.
Join Date: 05/29/15
Posts: 460
Join Date: 03/21/17
Posts: 68
Yes - I did thinks she made the right decision. She was exposing the truth. I actually think I would have done the same. I get so much information from reading that I think I would have wanted to get it out there.
Join Date: 09/15/14
Posts: 84
Absolutely. Initially, she was hesitant because she didn't want to seem supportive of Hitler. After pondering she arrived at the decision to go ahead because I believe she really thought that once the U.S. and others were able to read the truth about Hitler's Germany, they would get involved.
Join Date: 04/11/11
Posts: 9
Reply
Please login to post a response.