The Institute for Contemporary History in Munich (IfZ) was cautious in its expectations by starting out with 4,000 copies: Already on January 8, the day the scholarly edition of Hitler's manifesto was released, 15,000 pre-orders had been placed. A second impression of the 2,000-page long work is therefore underway.

However, there was good reason for the caution: A huge first run could have led to sales that would have inadvertently pushed the anti-Semitic work onto the bestseller lists, an embarrassment not worth risking.

Although many booksellers are taking pre-orders, some people are ready to pay a
high price to get their hands on the controversial book right away. It could be found on Amazon on Wednesday (13.01.2015) for 375 euros ($408).

An Amazon spokesperson said that this was done without the company's consent, as third-party resellers were not allowed to violate the existing fixed book price agreements. Amazon plans to donate all of its "Mein Kampf" profits to a charity supporting victims of the Holocaust.

The critical edition is also being auctioned on Ebay. One copy was sold for 276 euros on Wednesday, through an auction which started at one euro.

A spokesperson for IfZ said that such prices were exaggerated, and that the book would be available shortly - those who can wait a little will then pay the normal price of 59 euros.

eg/kbm (dpa)