New Mein Kampf to be released

For the first time since World War II, Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” will be printed in Germany in January as an annotated edition, according to the Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ) .

The autobiographical text will return to the public domain at the start of the year and hit bookshops between January 8 and 11, said Andreas Wirsching, director of the Institute of Contemporary History (IFZ) in Munich.

The first run of Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition would be limited to between 3500 and 4000 copies, he said.

Plans to publish the new version have been controversial and drawn fire especially from Jewish groups, who have argued the book is dangerous and should never be printed again.

But Wirsching said the republication of the text with expert commentary aims to “shatter the myth” surrounding the book, which Hitler wrote in 1924 while languishing in prison after a failed coup.

Mein Kampf (My Struggle) was originally printed in 1925 - eight years before Hitler came to power.

After Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945, the Allied forces handed the copyright to the book to the state of Bavaria.

The local authorities have refused to allow the book to be reprinted to prevent incitement of hatred.

Under German law copyright lasts for 70 years, and so publishers will be able to have free access to the original text from January.

However, German officials have said they will limit public access to the text amid fears that this could stir neo-Nazi sentiment.