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The (at least here in Germany) well known book "Mein Kampf" by Hitler loses it's copyright in 2016. The state of Bavaria uses copyright law (German: Urheberrech

The (at least here in Germany) well known book "Mein Kampf" by Hitler loses it's copyright in 2016. The state of Bavaria uses copyright law (German: Urheberrecht) to disallow any distribution of the book. There is an ongoing discussion how the Government can prohibit future distribution of the book, now that it goes into public domain. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf)

NickPollard 13y ago
It's curious to me that the government (local government in this case, it appears) would want to censor that book. The whole idea of freedom is that people should be free to make up their own mind, and being able to study what Hitler wrote is important to a study of history. My parents have a copy of Mein Kampf on their bookshelf; not because they're Nazis but because it tells us a lot about what happened.
- arethuza 13y ago
  I think it is a misguided, but also completely understandable, desire on the part of modern Germans to be seen to completely disassociate themselves from their ghastly past.
- VLM 13y ago
  I had (have?) a copy as one of many textbooks for a Holocaust class. Its pretty crazy to read because quite a few things from the 30s and 40s turned out just like planned in the book. Deja Vu feelings all thru. Which led to in class discussions about which modern book, if any, seems equally likely to predict the future. Some peak oil classics were discussed, Camp of the Saints was discussed, a couple others. The unabomber ramblings and quite a few others got discredited. Lots of in class discussion about why the events of WWII seemed inevitable, why was the only response to his very public plans was eventually the D-Day invasion and is that right or wrong way to do it and how so. Its a great book for encouraging in class discussion and hopefully once its finally liberated more history classes and liberal arts synthesis classes will use it as a resource. This is the academic tragedy of copyright. We have better educational materials for the Civil War than WWII because memoirs and such are free from the civil war.
theorique 13y ago
I am sure that Mein Kampf is available as a free ebook on the internet in many places (not that I've looked, but I'm sure Nazi organizations want it disseminated as widely as possible). How does Germany plan to address that aspect? Or is this more of a symbolic effort intended to communicate disapproval and repudiation of Hitler's plan?
- patrickg 13y ago
  I have no idea how to address that aspect. I am sure many people try to make a new law to forbid "Mein Kampf", but others want to make a "annotated" version of the book. Let's see.
  - nnq 13y ago
    It definitely needs an "annotated version" as it references so much historical context that is completely unfamiliar to modern readers (so unfamiliar that most can't even separate referenced historic facts from delusions and from delusional interpretations of AH - I know I can't so that's why I never finished reading it as I should have researched too much referenced history to make sense of it). It's basically useless even as a propaganda material for modern neonazies (even they can write better copy now!), except as a bookshelf decorator (I have an edition with a pretty picture of a smiling AH among a group of happy children - it really creeps me out so it's obviously at the bottom of a dusty cabinet of historical books, but some of other views might put it to an aesthetic use :) ).
  - eru 13y ago
    Annotated versions are freely available in Germany.
pseingatl 13y ago
This is one difference between the US and Germany. In Germany, state governments can hold copyrights; in the U.S., states cannot.

NickPollard 13y ago

It's curious to me that the government (local government in this case, it appears) would want to censor that book. The whole idea of freedom is that people should be free to make up their own mind, and being able to study what Hitler wrote is important to a study of history. My parents have a copy of Mein Kampf on their bookshelf; not because they're Nazis but because it tells us a lot about what happened.

arethuza 13y ago
I think it is a misguided, but also completely understandable, desire on the part of modern Germans to be seen to completely disassociate themselves from their ghastly past.
VLM 13y ago
I had (have?) a copy as one of many textbooks for a Holocaust class. Its pretty crazy to read because quite a few things from the 30s and 40s turned out just like planned in the book. Deja Vu feelings all thru. Which led to in class discussions about which modern book, if any, seems equally likely to predict the future. Some peak oil classics were discussed, Camp of the Saints was discussed, a couple others. The unabomber ramblings and quite a few others got discredited. Lots of in class discussion about why the events of WWII seemed inevitable, why was the only response to his very public plans was eventually the D-Day invasion and is that right or wrong way to do it and how so. Its a great book for encouraging in class discussion and hopefully once its finally liberated more history classes and liberal arts synthesis classes will use it as a resource. This is the academic tragedy of copyright. We have better educational materials for the Civil War than WWII because memoirs and such are free from the civil war.

theorique 13y ago

I am sure that Mein Kampf is available as a free ebook on the internet in many places (not that I've looked, but I'm sure Nazi organizations want it disseminated as widely as possible). How does Germany plan to address that aspect? Or is this more of a symbolic effort intended to communicate disapproval and repudiation of Hitler's plan?

patrickg 13y ago
I have no idea how to address that aspect. I am sure many people try to make a new law to forbid "Mein Kampf", but others want to make a "annotated" version of the book. Let's see.
- nnq 13y ago
  It definitely needs an "annotated version" as it references so much historical context that is completely unfamiliar to modern readers (so unfamiliar that most can't even separate referenced historic facts from delusions and from delusional interpretations of AH - I know I can't so that's why I never finished reading it as I should have researched too much referenced history to make sense of it). It's basically useless even as a propaganda material for modern neonazies (even they can write better copy now!), except as a bookshelf decorator (I have an edition with a pretty picture of a smiling AH among a group of happy children - it really creeps me out so it's obviously at the bottom of a dusty cabinet of historical books, but some of other views might put it to an aesthetic use :) ).
- eru 13y ago
  Annotated versions are freely available in Germany.

pseingatl 13y ago

This is one difference between the US and Germany. In Germany, state governments can hold copyrights; in the U.S., states cannot.