BERLIN—Bavaria's regional government has ended its funding for a controversial book release: a new, annotated edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf," which hasn't been published in Germany since World War II.
The wealthy South German state of Bavaria—which holds the copyright until 2015—had been planning to co-publish an edition of the book with historians' notes highlighting the flaws and falsehoods in Hitler's arguments, in an effort to get ahead of other potential editions that might be released once the copyright expires. But this week, Bavaria decided the plan to publish Hitler's manifesto in Germany for the first time since 1945 sends a wrong signal, at a time when German authorities are trying to outlaw the extreme-right National Democratic Party of Germany, or NPD.
"I can't file a request to ban the NPD [at the constitutional court] in Karlsruhe and then associate our Bavarian coat of arms with the distribution of 'Mein Kampf'. That's bad," Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer told the state legislature this week.
Bavaria and Germany's other federal states are seeking to ban the NPD at the country's highest court, arguing that the party is "spiritually related" to the Nazis and seeks to subvert democracy. The NPD denies the charge.
The effort to ban the NPD comes amid renewed national soul-searching about the persistence of extreme-right ideology on the fringes of German politics. The debate was spurred in part by a criminal investigation and parliamentary inquiry into a spree of murders of immigrants by neo-Nazis, which police failed to solve for many years.
In an about-turn, the Bavarian science and education ministry this week announced it will pull out of the project to publish a critical edition of Hitler's book, citing respect for the feelings of victims of the Holocaust and their families.
Historians argue that a critical, annotated edition of Mein Kampf is essential to countering many of the falsehoods and anti-Semitic claims that Hitler makes in the book. Supporters of the planned publication say Bavarian officials' fears that the book's re-release will incite hatred today are overdone.
The planned two-volume edition, heavy with academic annotations, is unlikely to appeal to far-right activists today, said Richard Evans, historian at Cambridge University.
Mein Kampf is also "very boring" to read and unsuited for rabble-rousing in today's Germany, Prof. Evans said.
In 2012, Bavaria pledged €500,000 ($687,546) in public funding for the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History, of IfZ, to produce a critical, annotated version of "Mein Kampf" for publication in 2015 when the copyright expires.
Bavarian finance minister Markus Söder said at the time that the publication would aim to "demystify" Hilter's manifesto.
The IfZ institute says it will carry on with the project even though the public funding will end, citing the importance of Hitler's treatise as an historical source. It won't have to repay state money handed out so far.
IfZ director Andreas Wirsching said on Thursday that he hopes the critical edition will "break down the propaganda in the work and make it transparent."
"Mein Kampf," which translates as "My Struggle," dates from the mid-1920s and outlined Hitler's radical anti-Semitic views, as well as his vision for German dominance in Europe.
Most Nazi symbols and paraphernalia are outlawed in Germany, including the swastikas and the stiff-arm Nazi salute. Mein Kampf isn't banned. Germans can already read it on the Internet, and buy it overseas or in secondhand bookshops.
But Bavaria has blocked the publication and sale of new copies in Germany since 1945.
Copyright expires 70 years after an author's death, meaning Bavarian authorities will lose their copyright from the end of 2015, seven decades after Hitler committed suicide in the final days of the war.
But the Bavarian government says it will continue to ban publication and distribution of the book in Germany through the courts, arguing that it incites ethnic hatred. It says it will make an exception for scholarly versions aimed at academics, such as the IfZ's edition.
The wealthy South German state of Bavaria—which holds the copyright until 2015—had been planning to co-publish an edition of the book with historians' notes highlighting the flaws and falsehoods in Hitler's arguments, in an effort to get ahead of other potential editions that might be released once the copyright expires. But this week, Bavaria decided the plan to publish Hitler's manifesto in Germany for the first time since 1945 sends a wrong signal, at a time when German authorities are trying to outlaw the extreme-right National Democratic Party of Germany, or NPD.
"I can't file a request to ban the NPD [at the constitutional court] in Karlsruhe and then associate our Bavarian coat of arms with the distribution of 'Mein Kampf'. That's bad," Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer told the state legislature this week.
Bavaria and Germany's other federal states are seeking to ban the NPD at the country's highest court, arguing that the party is "spiritually related" to the Nazis and seeks to subvert democracy. The NPD denies the charge.
The effort to ban the NPD comes amid renewed national soul-searching about the persistence of extreme-right ideology on the fringes of German politics. The debate was spurred in part by a criminal investigation and parliamentary inquiry into a spree of murders of immigrants by neo-Nazis, which police failed to solve for many years.
In an about-turn, the Bavarian science and education ministry this week announced it will pull out of the project to publish a critical edition of Hitler's book, citing respect for the feelings of victims of the Holocaust and their families.
Historians argue that a critical, annotated edition of Mein Kampf is essential to countering many of the falsehoods and anti-Semitic claims that Hitler makes in the book. Supporters of the planned publication say Bavarian officials' fears that the book's re-release will incite hatred today are overdone.
The planned two-volume edition, heavy with academic annotations, is unlikely to appeal to far-right activists today, said Richard Evans, historian at Cambridge University.
Mein Kampf is also "very boring" to read and unsuited for rabble-rousing in today's Germany, Prof. Evans said.
In 2012, Bavaria pledged €500,000 ($687,546) in public funding for the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History, of IfZ, to produce a critical, annotated version of "Mein Kampf" for publication in 2015 when the copyright expires.
Bavarian finance minister Markus Söder said at the time that the publication would aim to "demystify" Hilter's manifesto.
The IfZ institute says it will carry on with the project even though the public funding will end, citing the importance of Hitler's treatise as an historical source. It won't have to repay state money handed out so far.
IfZ director Andreas Wirsching said on Thursday that he hopes the critical edition will "break down the propaganda in the work and make it transparent."
"Mein Kampf," which translates as "My Struggle," dates from the mid-1920s and outlined Hitler's radical anti-Semitic views, as well as his vision for German dominance in Europe.
Most Nazi symbols and paraphernalia are outlawed in Germany, including the swastikas and the stiff-arm Nazi salute. Mein Kampf isn't banned. Germans can already read it on the Internet, and buy it overseas or in secondhand bookshops.
But Bavaria has blocked the publication and sale of new copies in Germany since 1945.
Copyright expires 70 years after an author's death, meaning Bavarian authorities will lose their copyright from the end of 2015, seven decades after Hitler committed suicide in the final days of the war.
But the Bavarian government says it will continue to ban publication and distribution of the book in Germany through the courts, arguing that it incites ethnic hatred. It says it will make an exception for scholarly versions aimed at academics, such as the IfZ's edition.
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