Copyright For ‘Mein Kampf’ Expires In 2015; Germany Debates Possibility Of Reprints

A banner with the image of Adolf Hitler hangs inside a home where members affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan and the National Socialist Movement were gathering for a joint rally in Hunt County, Texas, November 8, 2014. The Ku Klux Klan, which had about 6 million members in the 1920s, now has some 2,000 to 3,000 members nationally in about 72 chapters, or klaverns, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors extremist groups. REUTERS/Johnny Milano

The copyright of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf" is going to expire in two months. Now a raging debate is going on in Germany if the book should be published again.

The reprinting of the anti-Semitic manifesto has been suspended since Hitler’s defeat. Authorities in the southern Bavaria region have been refusing the republishing of the book for seven decades to show respect to the victims of the Nazi regime. The reprinting has also been denied in order to prevent the possibility of the incitement of hatred.

According to philosopher Stephen Hicks, “Mein Kampf,” meaning “My Struggle,” should not be published. "Decent people can argue that the book is too dangerous to be published," “Foundation for Economic Education” quotes Hicks. "But the fact is that Mein Kampf is too dangerous not to be published."

Some scholars believe the 800-page document should be reprinted to demystify it. However, there is strong opposition against republishing it. Some Jewish groups want to keep the document banned as they compare reprinting it to opening Pandora’s Box, AFP reported.

Historians at the Institute of Contemporary History of Munich produced an annotated version in January to make it available in bookstores. The IFZ version consists of 2,000 pages, and is going to be the first print version of the original document since 1945.

A Paris publisher earlier confirmed that annotated French and German versions of the book were ready to be published once the copyrights got lifted, AFP reported. The book has not been reprinted in French since 1934. “Mein Kampf” was originally published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926.