Mein Kampf - version russe

An historical puzzle

Illustrated on the left is a small flip-book, measuring 5cms by 8cms, that I acquired in the early 1980s from a weekly book market that used to be held in Camden Passage, Islington. It has 24 leaves and a front cover bearing the following words:

Mein Kampf Version Russe

 Mein Kampf






VERSION RUSSE


DESSINS DE
R Michaury

MODÈLE DÉPOSÉ No 55
COPYRIGHT BY A. GENICOUD - A.MAILLET __THONON.



   

The first leaf has an image of Adolf Hitler on his own. Over the following pages, he is joined by Stalin who proceeds to boot him off the final page. When the pages are flicked, it produces the effect of a cartoon with moving images.

The artist and the publishers would appear to be French. Thonon is in the Haute Savoie department of Eastern France.  Does this, and the use of 'Version Russe', imply a French target audience? Was it produced after the opening of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 when Hitler's armed forces invaded the Soviet Union? Was it produced by the French Communist Party?


On the rear of the booklet is a faint entry in pencil that appears to read as follows:

Maly Ko??k
5 Maja 1949

One possibility is that Maly is the Polish word meaning 'Little', applied either to a child or to someone of diminutive stature. In that case, Maja would also be Polish and mean May. The word beginning with Ko and ending with K has five letters but is very difficult to decipher.

Your help in resolving the mystery of this little booklet would be greatly appreciated.