A high-profile scholarly effort to publish an annotated version of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf has been thrown into question by the German state of Bavaria.
The Bavarian government, which owns the copyright to the infamous tome, has unexpectedly withdrawn its funding for the project—some 500,000 euros. Moreover, it now says it will pursue legal action against any German publishers that release Mein Kampf after December 31, 2015, when the copyright expires, under laws banning hate speech and incitement. The about-face has stunned academics, who believe an authorized, annotated version of the book will help “demystify” the text.
As Hitler’s last registered address, Bavaria owns the copyright and keeps it under lock and key—to the extent that’s possible (copies are widely available in used-book stores and on the Internet). But a few years ago, with the end of the copyright looming, the Bavarian government opted to support the annotated version of the book.
The goal of the project was to publish a version, prepared by leading historians at Munich’s prestigious Institute for Contemporary History, that would counter Hitler’s outrageous assertions with hard facts. That solution had almost everybody involved on board, including representatives of Germany’s Jewish community. The plan was for the special edition to appear in January 2016, pre-empting the publication of unannotated editions—and hopefully stealing their thunder.
Now, however, that strategy has been abandoned, at least by Bavaria.
“I can’t understand why this discussion should be postponed or suppressed,” said Hajo Funke, a professor emeritus at the Free University of Berlin and author of several books on right-wing extremism. “The paranoid ideas can and should be tackled head-on.”
“Hitler’s autobiographical remarks are embarrassing and ridiculous, the theses confused,” scoffed Cicero, a German magazine on politics and culture. “Banning it only makes the book more powerful and a trophy for Nazis.”
But the Bavarians got cold feet after discussions with Holocaust survivors who insisted the book remain verboten. Important Jewish figures in Germany subsequently lobbied Bavarian politicians to rethink their plans. Horst Seehofer, chairman of the Christian Social Union, Bavaria’s leading political party, said it was impolitic to seek to ban far-right parties in Germany and simultaneously release Mein Kampf.
The head of the Institute for Contemporary History, Andreas Wirsching, is above all puzzled by the move. “I can’t conceal my disappointment,” he told The Chronicle, noting that he had not been personally informed by the Bavarian government. “Politicians should stay out of this kind of project and leave scholarship to trained academics,” he said. “Politicizing the whole issue makes it even harder to have a rational discussion. Banning or trying to ban Mein Kampf simply contributes to mystifying it even more. It’s futile and counterproductive.”
Mr. Wirsching said that the annotation project would continue even without state support, which accounted for the effort’s entire budget; funds will be found within the institute. He said that despite the authorities’ threat to press charges against the publishers of Mein Kampf, he doubted they would go after the institute’s annotated edition.
