With the goal of “inoculat[ing] adolescents against politic extremism” as the German teachers’ association Deutschen Lehrerverbandes says, Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic screed Mein Kampf may be permitted back in Germany’s classrooms.
The Munich Institute of Contemporary History intends to publish Hitler, Mein Kampf A Critical Edition next month. This version “extends the work to 2,000 pages with 3,500 annotations adding context to its inaccurate content.”
Josef Kraus, president of the German Teachers Association, warned of the lure of the forbidden among young people:
“What’s much more dangerous is remaining silent or completely banning the book. Nowadays, with the power of the Internet, everyone has access to everything. So it’s more important to me that something like this can be discussed in a differentiated and critical manner.”
German authorities will likely prosecute any publishers of unedited versions on the charge of “inciting racial hatred.”
Jewish leaders have not all welcomed the open discussion of Mein Kampf in schools. Charlotte Knobloch, a Jewish community leader in Munich, told Haaretz she was opposed to the idea:
“So long as German students know virtually nothing about the Jews, other than the Holocaust, and don’t learn about the Jewish religion, the flowering of Jewish life in Germany before 1933 and the accomplishments for which our country owes the Jews, using that profoundly anti-Jewish diatribe as teaching material would be irresponsible.”
Andreas Wirsching, director of the Institute of Contemporary History, says that the willingness to finally allow publication after a 70-year prohibition means “German democracy is now mature enough to withstand such a book.”
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