Adolph Hitler’s notorious autobiographical book, “Mein Kampf”, will again be available to the public for the first time since WWII.
An annotated edition is to be printed in Germany and will be for sale by the early part of January, according to Andreas Wirsching, director of the Institute of Contemporary History (IFZ) in Munich, which has been working on the project since 2009.
“Hitler, Mein Kampf. A Critical Edition” will have an initial limited print run of between 3,000 and 4,000. The two volumes will reach nearly 2,000 pages and cost €59.
Some 3,500 comments from experts will be incorporated to add context to the text aiming to "shatter the myth" surrounding the book.
Surprisingly perhaps, publication plans have received the approval of the Central Council of Jews in Germany which said it is still important to explain National Socialism and the Holocaust.
"Therefore, there are no objections to a scientifically annotated edition for research and teaching purposes," said the council's head Josef Schuster.
Hitler wrote the book in 1924 from his prison cell where he was kept after a failed coup attempt.
After the war, the Allies gave the copyright to the state of Bavaria which has ever since refused to republish it as a sign of respect for all the victims and to prevent the incitement of hatred.
The copyright will expire at the end of 2015 and the book reverts to the public domain on January 1.
German authorities still plan to prosecute publishers of unedited reprints of the book on charges of "inciting racial hatred".
