Annotated Version of Mein Kampf to Be Published in Germany

M2 Communications

The Munich-based Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ) has announced that Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf, banned from publication since World War II, is to be republished as an annotated version in Germany.

According to the IfZ, the two volumes of Mein Kampf were first published in 1925 and 1926 and the copyright expires in 2015, 70 years after Hitler's death in 1945. The institute's version of the book will include historical notes and academic references to the text and it hopes the book will be used in schools and colleges.

The text is deposited in Bavaria and the Bavarian Finance Ministry has reportedly objected to the planned publication and has not given the IfZ its agreement. German Jewish leaders are said to support the project and are reported as stating that the book "would prevent neo-Nazi from profiteering from Mein Kampf, while an aggressive and enlightening engagement with the book would doubtless remove many of its false, persisting myths." Mein Kampf, which translates as My Struggle and was written when Hitler was sentenced to five years in jail for attempting to overthrow the government in 1924, is said to have outsold the Bible in Nazi Germany and it made Hitler a multimillionaire through royalties. The propagandistic work, which describes Hitler's prejudices and his hatred of Jews, was also serialised by newspapers around the world.

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