Jacob Heilbrunn takes a look at the Bavarian government's decision to reissue Mein Kampf for the first time in Germany since WWII:
Is its decision to publish Hitler's autobiography a sign that Germany is backsliding? Not at all. Mein Kampf has been banned in Germany since World War II and the Bavrian justice system recently prevented the English publisher Peter McGee from publishing excerpts from it in Munich. But the ban, it must be said, no longer makes much sense. The book can be easily acquired abroad or on the internet. In announcing the publication of the book, Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder says that he wants to contribute to the "demystification" of it. In 2015 the Bavarian state's copyright to the book will expire. The idea is to publish a scholarly version that will help stem its appeal for commercial publishers.
Hitler himself would surely be displeased to know that his book was, in effect, being further defanged by a democratic Germany, which is treating it in a calm and clinical manner.
(Photo: A visitor looks at a display featuring a vintage ad for Adolf Hitler's book 'Mein Kampf' at the Wannsee House museum and memorial in Berlin January 5, 2012. At the Wannsee Conference, which took place on January 20, 1942, top Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich announced the plans for the deportation and extermination of all Jews in German-occupied territory. By John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images.)
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