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Explaining Hitler

Summary

26 April 2012

The German state of Bavaria has announced that it is preparing for the expiration in 2015 of the copyright on Adolf Hitler's infamous memoir Mein Kampf by supporting the preparation of new editions with a critical commentary - including one for students.

Reporter:

Steve Evans

Report

Unlike public displays of the Nazi salute, the sale of Mein Kampf is not actually banned by law in Germany. After the war, the ownership of the copyright was given by the victorious Allies to the state of Bavaria, and the Bavarian government simply bans its reproduction and sale. But that copyright expires in 2015. In readiness, historians are preparing an edition with notes explaining where Hitler's crazed ideas led. 

One of the historians, Edith Raim of the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, said: "Our book won't find any buyers in the Neo-Nazi scene. It's going to be a solid scientific work."

The president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Dieter Graumann, said he would prefer German citizens to be able to read a copy with notes of explanation. After all, the book is already freely available on the Internet.