Mein Kampf will be reprinted in Germany for the first time since World War II
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For the first time since Adolf Hitler's death, Mein Kampf will be available for sale in German bookstores.
This isn't the Nazi leader's original autobiography, though: The 2,000-page volume, published by a taxpayer-funded historical society, will include annotations and criticism of the text. The first print run will begin early next year.
Although the Nazi manifesto has been widely available in the U.S. and online, it has been banned in Germany since the end of World War II. The historical society says the book is a "vital academic tool," that should be available to German audiences, The Washington Post reports. Bavaria has held the German copyright to the book since the end of the war, but that copyright expires in December.
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Not everyone in Germany is happy about the publication, though. Many Holocaust survivors see the reprint as giving Hitler a new voice.
"I am absolutely against the publication of Mein Kampf, even with annotations. Can you annotate the Devil? Can you annotate a person like Hitler?" Levi Salomon, spokesman for the Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism in Berlin, told the Post. "This book is outside of human logic."
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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
