A Delhi bookstore has become the subject of heated online discussions after its peculiar shelving choice. At an Om Book Shop in the city, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank was spotted alongside Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Mahatma Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth. The unexpected arrangement left many questioning the rationale behind grouping these vastly different works.
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The incident came to light when Himanish Ganjoo, a visitor to the store, shared an image on X (formerly Twitter), captioning it, “Only in India.” The photograph quickly went viral, igniting debates about the contrasting themes of resilience, peace, and hatred represented by the three titles.
Check out the post here:
Netizens react to unlikely juxtaposition
“At least they bothered putting "My Experiment with Truth" in the middle. I remember some dude putting Anne Frank and Mein Kampf side-by-side,” commented one user, expressing both surprise and frustration at the consistent shelving decision.
{{/usCountry}}“At least they bothered putting "My Experiment with Truth" in the middle. I remember some dude putting Anne Frank and Mein Kampf side-by-side,” commented one user, expressing both surprise and frustration at the consistent shelving decision.
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Another asked, “Can the stories of peace, resilience, and hatred coexist on the same shelf without challenging our understanding of history?”
A different user proposed a more philosophical take: “Maybe they’re meant to be read together for a clearer understanding of the era’s complexities.”
Others were less forgiving, accusing the store of being insensitive. “This shows a lack of understanding of history. It feels disrespectful,” one comment read, capturing the anger of those who found the shelving choice offensive.
Books of historical impact
Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, written during her time in hiding from Nazi persecution, remains one of the most poignant memoirs of the Holocaust. Published in 1947 and translated into over 70 languages, the book has sold over 30 million copies globally.
Conversely, Hitler’s Mein Kampf has a far darker legacy. According to Foreign Policy magazine, the controversial manifesto sold approximately 12 million copies during the Nazi regime’s peak.