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German State Seeks Ban on Hitler's Book
By Associated Press
February 22, 2005, 4:07 PM EST
BERLIN -- A German state that holds the rights to Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" said Tuesday it was seeking legal action to prevent the book from being published in Poland.
The book, which details the Nazi dictator's anti-Semitic views and other beliefs, is due to go on sale in a few days. Polish publisher XXL said it wants to make a historical record available, but it also cites "a 1,000-year-old worry" among Poles about "the German dream of vast fertile lands and natural resources in the east."
Authorities in the state of Bavaria, which the victorious World War II allies designated as the guardian of Hitler's estate, issued a statement Tuesday noting that they hold the rights to "Mein Kampf."
"Bavaria applies those rights very restrictively to prevent the spread of Nazi ideology," state Finance Minister Kurt Faltlhauser said.
Bavaria has asked Germany's Foreign Ministry to instruct its diplomats in Poland to seek a court injunction against the book, he said.
"Mein Kampf," or "My Struggle," is banned from public display or sale in Germany although it is available for historical research in libraries.
In Poland, XXL has printed an initial run of 2,000 copies. The planned publication comes at a time of renewed tension over threats by some Germans to sue for the return of ancestral property they lost in Poland at the end of World War II. Those claims are not supported by the German government.
Nazi Germany started the war by invading Poland in 1939, subjected the country to a brutal occupation that cost millions of lives and set up death camps on Poland as part of the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews died.
The book was banned in Poland during the decades of communist rule that ended in 1989. When a first edition was published in Polish in 1992, prosecutors questioned whether its publisher was fomenting racial hatred, and that version is no longer available.
The new edition is unlikely to raise legal problems because its foreword puts it in a historical context, said Zbigniew Holda, a legal expert who sits on the board of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.
By Associated Press
February 22, 2005, 4:07 PM EST
BERLIN -- A German state that holds the rights to Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" said Tuesday it was seeking legal action to prevent the book from being published in Poland.
The book, which details the Nazi dictator's anti-Semitic views and other beliefs, is due to go on sale in a few days. Polish publisher XXL said it wants to make a historical record available, but it also cites "a 1,000-year-old worry" among Poles about "the German dream of vast fertile lands and natural resources in the east."
Authorities in the state of Bavaria, which the victorious World War II allies designated as the guardian of Hitler's estate, issued a statement Tuesday noting that they hold the rights to "Mein Kampf."
"Bavaria applies those rights very restrictively to prevent the spread of Nazi ideology," state Finance Minister Kurt Faltlhauser said.
Bavaria has asked Germany's Foreign Ministry to instruct its diplomats in Poland to seek a court injunction against the book, he said.
"Mein Kampf," or "My Struggle," is banned from public display or sale in Germany although it is available for historical research in libraries.
In Poland, XXL has printed an initial run of 2,000 copies. The planned publication comes at a time of renewed tension over threats by some Germans to sue for the return of ancestral property they lost in Poland at the end of World War II. Those claims are not supported by the German government.
Nazi Germany started the war by invading Poland in 1939, subjected the country to a brutal occupation that cost millions of lives and set up death camps on Poland as part of the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews died.
The book was banned in Poland during the decades of communist rule that ended in 1989. When a first edition was published in Polish in 1992, prosecutors questioned whether its publisher was fomenting racial hatred, and that version is no longer available.
The new edition is unlikely to raise legal problems because its foreword puts it in a historical context, said Zbigniew Holda, a legal expert who sits on the board of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.
Would a book that foments hatred against Slavs foment hatred against Jews in a Slavic country?
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