German court bans Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ excerpts

A Munich court has banned British publisher Peter McGee from printing excerpts from Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Germany because it breaches copyright laws, Focus magazine reported on Thursday. McGee planned to publish excerpts from Hitler’s book accompanied with commentaries as a supplement to his weekly newspaper. However, the Finance Ministry of Bavaria filed a lawsuit banning the publication of these materials saying that it breaches the copyrights to the book held by the state of Bavaria. Copyrights to any books in European countries expire 70 years after the death of the writer. After that books become public property and can be published without consent of the copyright holder or payment of any royalties. The official date of Hitler's death is April 30, 1945. McGee's intentions to publish excerpts from Hitler's book has caused mixed reactions in Germany. The publisher had previously said that he just wanted to give the public an opportunity to critically examine the original text of Hitler's work. Mein Kampf, written by Hitler after he was jailed in a failed putsch in Bavaria in 1923, is currently banned in Germany. It is widely available, however, on nationalist websites based outside Germany.