Reprinting of Hitler's book rankles some Israelis

The controversy over the upcoming republication of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf in Germany is making waves in Israel, where memories of the Holocaust run deep and the book remains taboo.

Hitler's anti-Semitic rant, which he wrote from prison in the early 1920s, loses its copyright in Germany on Friday, and the country's first release of it since 1945 is due out soon in the form of an extensively annotated version.

The copyright had been held by the German state of Bavaria, to which it was granted by the victorious Allies after World War II. It now enters the public domain.

New versions are expected in many countries, sparking fierce debate over how one of the most controversial books in history should be treated.

Mein Kampf - which means "my struggle" - does not face a total legal ban in the Jewish state, but any large-scale publication remains forbidden, the Israeli culture ministry said.

Even if there were no restrictions at all, publishers say, there is still a stigma surrounding the book in Israel, a country formed after the genocide inspired by Hitler's writings.

About 180,000 Holocaust survivors live in the Jewish state, according to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Survivors in Israel.

Murray Greenfield, founder of Gefen Publishing, which specializes in works about Judaism and its history, said he wouldn't publish it "even if they paid me".

"My wife is a Holocaust survivor," he said. "We have a built-in censorship on this book, despite being very much against censorship."

In many countries, including some of Israel's Arab neighbors, copies of the book are widely available. It can also be found on the Internet, including in Israel, so those keen to access it are able to do so.

"The book is available online," said Dan Michman, head of the Yad Vashem International Institute for Holocaust Research. "Many copies are to be found. Some 12 million copies were printed in German, so it is not rare."

The book is also available in a shortened version in Hebrew at Israeli universities, the result of a campaign in the late 1980s by Holocaust survivor Dan Yaron.

Yaron, who died in 1999, fought for the book, totally forbidden until then, to be published in Hebrew for educational purposes.

"He said it was important for the people to know and to prevent future events like it by reading" what the Nazi leader was saying, Michman said.

He said Yaron approached him about publishing the book, but there was no money to do it at the time.

In the end, Hebrew University of Jerusalem financed the project, and a condensed version of the rambling 720-page original is available in Israeli universities and research institutes.

Agence France-Presse