Mein Kampf

Germany's Central Council of Jews has taken the unprecedented step of backing a proposal to republish Adolf Hitler's infamous autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf, which has been strictly outlawed in the country since the end of the Second World War.

Although many German Jews still oppose reissuing Hitler's anti-Semitic work, Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the country's leading Jewish organisation, supports a new scholarly edition of the work designed to inform future generations of the evils of Nazism.

"It makes sense and is important to publish an edition of Mein Kampf with an academic commentary," Mr Kramer said. "A historically critical edition needs to be prepared today to prevent neo-Nazis profiting from it."

The Indy looks at this contentious issue today.

Of course Mein Kampf should be re-issued; it should also be read. The way to understand history and defeat today's scumbag racists is not through bans or sweeping things away under a carpet. Racism, in fact, depends upon such ignorance. Bans and censorship never really achieve the aims they seek anyway for that reason as well as driving the subject underground.

As the Indy leader column put it so pithily: publish and let Hitler be damned.