Hitler’s book may be used in schools

Bavaria is considering publishing a book with excerpts from Hitler’s Mein Kampf for use in schools after its legal power to ban the book expires at the end of 2015.

The Bavarian state finance ministry owns the copyright to the book, which sets out the Nazi vision of Aryan racial supremacy, and has long threatened legal action against anybody who tries to publish it.

But the copyright expires on 31 December, 2015, forcing Bavaria, where Hitler first rose to national prominence with a failed coup attempt in 1923, to wrestle with how to handle the publication of a book that remains highly sensitive in Germany.

“We discussed a copy for schools. It wouldn’t be a whole book but excerpts that were presented in a particularly didactic way so they were suited for use in schools – that is conceivable,” Thomas Neumann, a spokesman for the state finance ministry, said. The ministry was also considering a separate edition with an academic commentary provided by the Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History.

“We have a responsibility, a collective responsibility [for the book], even after the copyright runs out,” Mr Neumann said.

“With an academic commentary, we want to demystify the book and we are facing up to this responsibility.”