Hitler protected Jewish WWI veteran: letter

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Adolf Hitler personally intervened to protect a Jewish man who had been his commanding officer during World War One, according to a letter unearthed by the Jewish Voice from Germany newspaper.

The letter, composed in August 1940 by Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazis' feared paramilitary SS, said Ernst Hess, a judge, should be spared persecution or deportation "as per the Fuehrer's wishes".

Hess, a decorated World War One hero who briefly commanded Hitler's company in Flanders, worked as a judge until Nazi racial laws forced him to resign in 1936. The same year he was beaten up by Nazi thugs outside his house, the paper said.

In a petition to Hitler at that time, Hess wrote: "For us it is a kind of spiritual death to now be branded as Jews and exposed to general contempt."

Hess and his family moved for a time to a German-speaking area of northern Italy but were then forced to return to Germany where he discovered Hitler's protection order had been revoked.

He spent the rest of World War Two doing slave labour but he escaped death partly thanks to the fact that his wife was a Gentile. Hess's sister died in the Auschwitz death camp but his mother managed to escape to Switzerland.

Hess remained in Germany after the war, becoming head of the Federal Railway Authority based in Frankfurt. He died in 1983.

Hess's daughter Ursula, now 86 and still living in Germany, told the paper in an interview her father had benefited from a chance encounter with another World War One comrade, Fritz Wiedemann. He became Hitler's adjutant and used his influence to win concessions for Hess, she was quoted as saying.

Ursula Hess also recalled her father saying that as a young corporal in World War One, Hitler had had no friends in their regiment and had kept himself very much to himself. (BERLIN - Reuters)

Jews welcome first annotated 'Mein Kampf' in Germany

Germany's Jewish community today welcomed a landmark decision to republish Adolf Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf" for the first time since World War II, in an annotated edition.

The southern state of Bavaria, which holds the rights, has not permitted reprints of the vicious anti-Semitic tract and rambling memoir since the Nazi leader's 1945 suicide.

But it said Tuesday it would release an edition with historians' commentary as well as a separate version for schools in 2015 before its copyright runs out at the end of that year in order to beat commercial publishers to the punch.

The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, called Bavaria's decision "responsible" and a "good idea".

"If it is going to be released, then I prefer seeing a competent annotated version from the Bavarian state than profit-seekers trying to make money with Nazis," he told AFP.

"I would of course prefer it if the book disappeared on a dust heap of contempt but that will not happen," he added, noting that the text was already widely available to Germans on the Internet.

The book is not banned as such in Germany but because of Bavaria's blanket refusal to permit sales of old copies or reprints -- even taking potential publishers to court -- the decision marks a historic step.

Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder said Tuesday that the state aimed to release an edition filled with respected historians' commentary that would be impossible to use as far-right propaganda.

"We want to make clear what nonsense is in there -- with, however, catastrophic consequences," Soeder said of the book on which much of the Nazis' genocidal ideology was based.

A spokesman for his ministry said Wednesday that the state had proceeded extremely carefully.

"We are aware of our responsibility," the spokesman, Thomas Neumann, told AFP. "We believe we can demystify the book with a clean edition." The German press appeared largely unfazed by the decision. The often excitable top-selling daily Bild put the news on its front page but in a short, matter-of-fact article.

And the website of influential news weekly Der Spiegel published a longer, neutral piece albeit with the provocative headline "'Mein Kampf' to Become School Book".

Bavaria intends to stump up 500,000 euros ($661,000) for the project and will reportedly publish an English edition, an electronic book and an audiobook in addition to the German annotated version and the school text with commentary targeted at a younger audience.

Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle) in 1924 -- nine years before he rose to power -- while serving a prison sentence in Bavaria following his abortive Beer Hall Putsch the previous year.

The two-volume work combined elements of autobiography with his views on Aryan "racial purity", his hatred of Jews and his opposition to communism.

Around 10 million copies were published in Germany until 1945, according to British historian Ian Kershaw. From 1936, every German couple marrying received a copy as a wedding gift from the Nazi state.

Bavaria made its decision after winning a court battle last month against a British publisher who planned to release parts of "Mein Kampf", also along with commentary from historians.
(Agence France-Presse)

German state says will republish Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'

The German state which owns the rights to Adolf Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf" said Tuesday it would release an annotated version 70 years after the Nazi dictator's suicide.

After winning a court battle last month against a British publisher who planned to publish parts of the anti-Semitic book alongside commentary from historians, Bavaria said it would put out its own edition by 2015.

State Finance Minister Markus Soeder told German news agency DPA the decision was taken after round-table talks with advocates and opponents of the move, and said it was aimed at "demystifying" the pages drenched in hatred and paranoid fantasy.

"We want to make clear what nonsense is in there, however with catastrophic consequences," Soeder said of the book on which much of the Nazis' genocidal policies were based.

He said the state aimed with the release to already make future publication as "commercially unattractive" as possible.

In addition to the annotated book, the state also plans to put out an edition for schools that encourages a critical approach to the work.

Holocaust survivors and their families have expressed fears that neo-Nazis could seize upon the book as propaganda.

A court in the state capital Munich ruled in March that British publisher Peter McGee would violate Bavaria's copyright on the work if he went ahead with plans to sell excerpts with explanations and commentary on German newsstands.

McGee has vowed to appeal the decision.

Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle"), in 1924 while languishing in a Bavarian prison, and combined elements of autobiography with his views on Aryan "racial purity", his hatred of Jews and his opposition to communism.

Millions of copies were distributed before his death in 1945.

It is not banned as such in Germany but since the end of World War II, Bavaria -- which holds the rights until the end of 2015 -- has not permitted reprints.

From 2016, third parties will be able to release copies of the work without obtaining permission from the state "unless it is used to incite racial hatred," Soeder said. (Agence France-Presse)