“My Struggle”

Interesting article as usual, Andrei. A German translation correction: The word "Kampf" can be translated a few different ways. The most common accepted translation of Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” is “My Struggle” and not “My War.”

“Kampf” is a “harder” sounding word in German than “struggle” in English. “Kampf” implies in German a hard struggle as in two armies fighting over territory, and not a minor struggle like two kids arguing over a gaming console. It is quite likely Hitler chose “Kampf” rather than “Mein Streit” for the harder “K” sound.

Nazis chose “harder” sounding words and even abbreviations for psychological effect. German is famous for compound words. The infamous Nazi “concentration camps” are “Konzentrationslager” in German. The correct abbreviation would be “KL” because the two root words are “Konzentration” and “Lager.” The Nazis chose to abbreviate “Konzentrationslager” as “KZ” specifically because “KZ” sounds more menacing and hard than “KL.”