Bavaria questions Mein Kampf publication plans

[January 17, 2012]  BERLIN (AP) -- Bavarian authorities say they are looking at legal measures to prevent a British publisher's plans to reproduce excerpts from Adolf Hitler's infamous memoir "Mein Kampf" in Germany.

The state Finance Ministry said Tuesday that Peter McGee's plans to reproduce three 15-page segments of "Mein Kampf" with critical commentary may violate the copyright on the book, which it holds.

"Mein Kampf" is not banned in Germany as commonly believed, but Bavaria has used its ownership of the copyright to prevent its publication so far.

Germany's Central Council of Jews has said the book is already widely available on the Internet anyway and that the reprints could help "demystify" it. But an American Jewish group on Tuesday called the publication plans a "moral offense."

[Associated Press]

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