ENTERTAINMENT

Bavaria gov't to continue blocking publication of Hitler's memoir

The Associated Press Published Wednesday, December 11, 2013 7:47AM EST

Government to block Mein Kampf publication

This is a Huntington Library handout photo showing a copy of the deluxe edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" with the inscription, "To the Huntington Library from G.S. Patton April 14, 1945." (AP / Huntington Library)

Text:

BERLIN -- Bavaria's state government says it will try to keep Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" out of publication in Germany after the copyright expires in 2015 -- reversing a previous decision to support new editions with critical commentary.

"Mein Kampf" isn't actually banned in Germany, but Bavaria has used its ownership of the copyright to block publication. The copyright expires 70 years after the author's death.

The Bavarian governor's chief of staff, Christine Haderthauer, said late Tuesday Hitler's anti-Semitic memoir amounts to incitement and the government will file a criminal complaint if anyone tries to publish it in future, news agency dpa reported.

Governor Horst Seehofer pointed to Bavaria's participation in a drive to have modern Germany's main far-right party banned and said that doesn't fit with supporting publication of "Mein Kampf."