BERLIN (AP) — For 70 years since the Nazi defeat in World War II, copyright law has been used in Germany to prohibit the publication of "Mein Kampf" — the notorious anti-Semitic tome in which Adolf Hitler set out his ideology. 
 
 FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2015, file photo, different editions of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" are on display at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich. For 70 years since the Nazi defeat in World... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2015, file photo, a 1939-edition, right, and different other editions of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" are on display at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich. For 70... (Associated Press) 
 
 That will change next month when a new edition with critical commentary, the product of several years' work by a publicly funded institute, hits the shelves. 
 
 While historians say it could help fill a gap in Germans' knowledge of the era, Jewish groups are wary and German authorities are making it clear that they still won't tolerate any new "Mein Kampf" without annotations. 
 
 Under German law, a copyright expires at the end of the year 70 years after an author's death — in this case, Hitler's April 30, 1945, suicide in a Berlin bunker as the Soviet army closed in. That means Bavaria's state finance ministry, which holds the copyright, can no longer use it to prevent the work's publication beyond Dec. 31. 
 
 The book has been published in several other countries; in the U.S., for example, Bavaria never controlled the copyright. 
 
 In Germany, many argue that holding back "Mein Kampf" merely created mystique around the book. The idea of at least a partial version with critical commentary for the German market dates back as far as the late 1960s. The Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History, which is behind the new version, sought and was denied permission to produce the book in the mid-1990s when it published a volume of Hitler's speeches. 
 
 Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" — or "My Struggle" — after he was jailed following the failed 1923 coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Millions of copies were printed after the Nazis took power in 1933. 
 
 The rambling tome set out Hitler's ultranationalist, anti-Semitic and anti-communist ideology for his National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi party, airing the idea of a war of conquest in eastern Europe. 
 
 "The book should not be underestimated as a historical source and also as a key to understanding the history of National Socialism," the director of the Munich institute, Andreas Wirsching, said ahead of the new edition's mid-January publication. 
 
 "Among serious historians in Germany, you won't find one who is against a commented edition and hasn't been calling for one for years," said Sven Felix Kellerhoff, a journalist with the daily Die Welt and a historian who has written about "Mein Kampf" himself. "That goes from conservatives to the left." 
 
 Jewish opinion varies. The head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, says that knowledge of "Mein Kampf" is important in explaining Nazism and the Holocaust — so "we do not object to a critical edition, contrasting Hitler's racial theories with scientific findings, to be at the disposal of research and teaching." 
 
 One of his predecessors is more critical. Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor who heads Munich's Jewish community, says she trusts the expertise of the institute's researchers but doubts that the new edition will achieve its aim of "demystifying and taking apart 'Mein Kampf.'" 
 
 It is likely to awaken interest "not in the commentary, but the original — and that remains highly dangerous," Knobloch said. "It could still have an impact because both of the core ideas are timeless: ultranationalism and racism." 
 
 Given that "Mein Kampf" is already widely available in university libraries and on the internet, "we don't see a need to print more copies of it and thus ensure mass distribution, including of an annotated version," said Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress. 
 
 The publishers say they understand the objections, while noting that the book is already freely available secondhand and online, not to mention in other languages, without annotations. Christian Hartmann, who led the team putting together the heavily annotated version, says that "we are linking Hitler's text and our commentary firmly together — we are practically encircling Hitler with our remarks." 
 
 Hartmann said they have attempted "the most intensive examination and rebuttal that is possible" of "Mein Kampf." 
 
 Amid disagreement over the annotated edition's merits, there is wide agreement that Hitler still shouldn't be left to speak uncontradicted. 
 
 In mid-2014, Germany's federal and state justice ministers agreed that new editions without commentary should continue to be prevented after the copyright expires, likely using laws against incitement. 
 
 It remains to be seen whether their resolve will be tested. There are currently no known plans to publish a Hitler-only "Mein Kampf" in Germany. 
 
 After the end of World War II, the Allies turned over what remained of Hitler's assets — the Nazi leader was officially registered as living in Munich — to the Bavarian government. Those included the copyright of the German original of "Mein Kampf." Authorities in Munich subsequently ensured it wasn't republished, though there was no official ban on the book. 
 
 That use of the copyright "of course had its reasons," Wirsching said. In the early years of West Germany, "there were any number of Hitler admirers; there wasn't just neo-Nazism, there was also old Nazism." 
 
 But "this is a different generation, a different political culture, a solid political democracy that in my view can definitely withstand an edition with commentary." 
 
 That Bavarian government took the same view when, in 2012, it said it would put 500,000 euros ($545,000) into backing the project and was even considering a version specifically aimed at students. But the following year, governor Horst Seehofer did an about-turn, arguing that supporting publication of "Mein Kampf" didn't fit with Bavaria's participation in a drive to have modern Germany's main far-right party banned. 
 
 However, the Institute for Contemporary History insisted that it would go ahead, Bavarian officials then indicated that they wouldn't object, and the researchers didn't have to return the funding. 
 
 The new edition of "Mein Kampf," which has expanded to nearly 2,000 pages with the Munich institute's commentary, roughly double the length of the original, doesn't appear likely to fly off the shelves. With a print run of up to 4,000 copies, it costs 59 euros ($64). 
 
 There won't be an e-book, since the edition's layout can't be adapted to the format, but publishers are considering an online edition, perhaps in 2017. 
 
 Any proceeds will go to charity, Wirsching said, but given the costs of dedicating historians to the task and producing the voluminous tome, he doesn't expect any. 
 
 "In the end, I think this will be an entirely nonprofit enterprise," he said. ||||| Berlin (AFP) - The copyright of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" expires Friday, with plans by several publishers for annotated reprints sparking fierce debate over how one of the world's most controversial books should be treated seven decades after the defeat of the Nazis. 
 
 The southern German state of Bavaria was handed the copyright of the book in 1945, when the Allies gave it the control of the main Nazi publishing house. 
 
 For 70 years, it refused to allow the anti-Semitic manifesto to be republished out of respect for victims of the Nazis and to prevent incitement of hatred. 
 
 But "Mein Kampf" -- which means "My Struggle" -- falls into the public domain on January 1, meaning that the state of Bavaria can no longer challenge reproductions or translations of the inflammatory work. 
 
 For several European countries that were under Nazi occupation, including Austria and the Netherlands, the expiration of copyright will have little impact as reprints and sales of Hitler's diatribe remain banned there. 
 
 But in Germany, historians have readied an annotated version to hit the bookstores on January 8, while in neighbouring France, publisher Fayard will go ahead with a new French version, sparking chagrin in some quarters. 
 
 View gallery A German edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle) is pictured at the Berli … 
 
 Some scholars argue in favour of the reprints, saying they will serve to demystify the notorious 800-page document, particularly given that the tract is freely available in many parts of the world, and just a few clicks away on the Internet. 
 
 In India and Brazil, the book is easily found, while in Japan even a manga version of the tract is available. In Turkey, more than 30,000 copies have been sold since 2004 and the book is not prohibited in the United States. 
 
 Nevertheless, opinion is split, particularly among Jewish groups, some of which want a ban maintained while others see reason in a scholarly version being made available for educational purposes. 
 
 - Deconstructing Hitler - 
 
 No country is as torn over the book as Germany, where all reprints have been halted since 1945 although the sale and possession of the book is not banned. 
 
 View gallery Andreas Wirsching (L) -- director of the Institute of Contemporary History of Munich, which will put … 
 
 Partly autobiographical, "Mein Kampf" outlines Adolf Hitler's ideology that formed the basis for Nazism. He wrote it in 1924 while he was imprisoned in Bavaria for treason after his failed beer hall putsch. 
 
 The book set out two ideas that he put into practice as Germany's leader going into World War II: annexing neighbouring countries to gain "lebensraum", or "living space", for Germans; and his hatred of Jews, which led to the Holocaust. 
 
 Some 12.4 million copies were published in Germany until 1945, and copies can be found in academic libraries. 
 
 Germany's Jewish community leader Josef Schuster said "the despicable propaganda pamphlet 'Mein Kampf' should remain banned" although he did not oppose a scholarly version with explanations for educational and research purposes. 
 
 Such an annotated version is what historians at the Institute of Contemporary History of Munich (IFZ) have prepared. 
 
 View gallery A man holds a French (L), a Finnish (C) and a Danish (R) edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Ka … 
 
 The IFZ version, running to 2,000 pages in two volumes including the added commentary, has been in the works since 2009 and aims to "deconstruct and put into context Hitler's writing". 
 
 The book, to retail at 59 euros ($65) from January 8, will look at key historical questions, the institute said, including: "How were his theses conceived? What objectives did he have? And most important: which counterarguments do we have, given our knowledge today of the countless claims, lies and assertions of Hitler?" 
 
 Education Minister Johanna Wanka has argued that such a scholarly version should be introduced to all classrooms across Germany, saying it would serve to ensure that "Hitler's comments do not remain unchallenged". 
 
 "Pupils will have questions and it is only right that these can be addressed in classes," she said. 
 
 But Charlotte Knobloch, who is president of the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria, warned that even this version carries certain risks as it "contains the original text" and that it was also "in the interest of right wing militants and Islamists to spread these ideas." 
 
 - 'Bedside reading?' - 
 
 To these fears, Andreas Wirshing, the IFZ's director, argued that each passage of the original text is accompanied by a commentary, forcing readers "to notice the commentaries and take them into account". 
 
 "Any Hitler sympathisers who might be interested in the book are better off looking elsewhere," he said in an interview with Deutsche Welle. 
 
 In neighbouring France, the president of the council of Jewish institutions, Roger Cukierman, called the planned French reprints "a disaster". 
 
 "Such horror can already be found on the Internet. What would happen if 'Mein Kampf' also becomes bedside reading?" he said. 
 
 In Israel, where reprints have been banned, the expiration of copyright would not lift a deep-seated taboo against the anti-Semitic screed. 
 
 Murray Greenfield, founder of Gefen Publishing, which focuses on books about Judaism and its history, said he wouldn't publish it "even if they paid me".
– Mein Kampf is coming back. The copyright on Hitler's "anti-Semitic manifesto" expires Friday, and with the book in the public domain, several publishers are planning new editions. The German state of Bavaria has held the copyright in Germany since 1945 and has forbidden the book from being republished. But there is much debate as to whether the new, annotated reprints are a good idea, AFP reports. A version will hit shelves in Germany on Jan. 8, and another is planned in France. And while some want a ban on the book's publication, others point out that it's already available in many places around the globe—and the Internet. (Bavaria, for example, never held the copyright for the book in the US, the AP explains.) Even a Jewish community leader who wants the book banned does not oppose a scholarly version of the book with annotations, and that's what will be out in Germany on Jan. 8. The aim of the $65, 2,000-page text is to "deconstruct and put into context Hitler's writing," and to provide counterarguments to his ideas. Germany's Education Minister thinks such a version should be studied in classrooms so that "Hitler's comments do not remain unchallenged" and students' questions are answered. But another Jewish community leader warns that, even though it is accompanied by commentary, the original text is contained in the annotated version, and "right wing militants" could attempt to spread Hitler's ideas. Others argue that it's the limits on publication up til now that have served to fuel the "mystique" surrounding the book.