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Much of German propaganda was sinister, especially in the portrayal of Jewish citizens. American propaganda was cautionary and dark. British propaganda, on the other hand, was that the righteous should prevail and that those in the wrong - be they errant schoolboys, bullies, or robbers, or even wartime leaders, should always fail. Rubbishing the enemy, assassinating nasty characters with humorous methods, was a technique people learned from comics. Britain was expert in this area. So enter Heath Robinson, and R F Paterson's Mein Rant, which we reproduce in this book, with a new introduction by leading comic archivist, Morris Heggie. Mein Rant is a clever and funny satire of Hitler's Mein Kampf, illustrated by Heath Robinson. Today, and since World War One, Heath Robinson's name has been used to describe absurdly complicated inventions that achieved very simple results. Here his work is used to great impact. Mein Kampf ('My Struggle'), Hitler's autobiography, was published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926 which Hitler wrote in Landsberg Prison, and R F Paterson said of it: Mein Kampf had neither rhyme nor reason, while my abridgement undoubtedly has rhyme. 'A conversion of Hitler's Mein Kampf to a delightful and pungent verse-satire. The result is an absolute triumph of the Comic Muse over intractable, almost hopeless material'.… (meer)
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I keep telling myself that, with all the Holocaust reading I do, I really ought to bite the bullet and read Mein Kampf. But I never have. I've tried, but it's really badly written and impossible for me to tolerate for more than a chapter or two.
Which is why I'm all the more impressed that R.F. Patterson was able to read the whole thing and then agonize over the rhymes to summarize it in amusing verse! With lines like:
And I decided that at least I'd be an abbot or a priest. But my respected parent said, "You're far too big a dunderhead."
and:
By nature a determined Stoic I panted after deeds heroic; When Archduke Francis Ferdinand Was liquidated, it was grand.
and:
Though half-a-dozen crazy schemers May pose as Germany's redeemers, One man alone as gold is rated, The others are electroplated.
It is thus easy to read and at the same time you understand what the Fuhrer was trying to say. Perhaps I will just give up my attempts to read the real thing, since this version does quite nicely.
I would recommend this to people interested in World War II or the Holocaust, and also to those who like limericks and humor in the style of Will Cuppy and Richard Armour.
A matter of interest: this book was originally published in 1940, when Germany was really pounding hard on the UK. Had the Nazis invaded and conquered Britain -- something that was a distinct possibility at the time of writing -- Mr. Patterson might have found himself in a concentration camp or worse. He was really quite brave in publishing it. ( )
Much of German propaganda was sinister, especially in the portrayal of Jewish citizens. American propaganda was cautionary and dark. British propaganda, on the other hand, was that the righteous should prevail and that those in the wrong - be they errant schoolboys, bullies, or robbers, or even wartime leaders, should always fail. Rubbishing the enemy, assassinating nasty characters with humorous methods, was a technique people learned from comics. Britain was expert in this area. So enter Heath Robinson, and R F Paterson's Mein Rant, which we reproduce in this book, with a new introduction by leading comic archivist, Morris Heggie. Mein Rant is a clever and funny satire of Hitler's Mein Kampf, illustrated by Heath Robinson. Today, and since World War One, Heath Robinson's name has been used to describe absurdly complicated inventions that achieved very simple results. Here his work is used to great impact. Mein Kampf ('My Struggle'), Hitler's autobiography, was published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926 which Hitler wrote in Landsberg Prison, and R F Paterson said of it: Mein Kampf had neither rhyme nor reason, while my abridgement undoubtedly has rhyme. 'A conversion of Hitler's Mein Kampf to a delightful and pungent verse-satire. The result is an absolute triumph of the Comic Muse over intractable, almost hopeless material'.
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Which is why I'm all the more impressed that R.F. Patterson was able to read the whole thing and then agonize over the rhymes to summarize it in amusing verse! With lines like:
And I decided that at least
I'd be an abbot or a priest.
But my respected parent said,
"You're far too big a dunderhead."
and:
By nature a determined Stoic
I panted after deeds heroic;
When Archduke Francis Ferdinand
Was liquidated, it was grand.
and:
Though half-a-dozen crazy schemers
May pose as Germany's redeemers,
One man alone as gold is rated,
The others are electroplated.
It is thus easy to read and at the same time you understand what the Fuhrer was trying to say. Perhaps I will just give up my attempts to read the real thing, since this version does quite nicely.
I would recommend this to people interested in World War II or the Holocaust, and also to those who like limericks and humor in the style of Will Cuppy and Richard Armour.
A matter of interest: this book was originally published in 1940, when Germany was really pounding hard on the UK. Had the Nazis invaded and conquered Britain -- something that was a distinct possibility at the time of writing -- Mr. Patterson might have found himself in a concentration camp or worse. He was really quite brave in publishing it. (