Bavaria wants lid on Hitler’s Mein Kampf

BERLIN — Bavaria’s state government said it will try to keep Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf out of publication in Germany after the copyright expires in 2015 — reversing a decision to support new editions with critical commentary.

Mein Kampf isn’t actually banned in Germany, but Bavaria has used its ownership of the copyright to block publication.

The copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death.

The Bavarian governor’s chief of staff, Christine Haderthauer, said late Tuesday that Hitler’s anti- Semitic memoir amounts to incitement, and the government will file a criminal complaint if anyone tries to publish it in the future, news agency Deutsche- Presse Agentur reported.

Gov. Horst Seehofer pointed to Bavaria’s participation in a drive to have modern Germany’s main far- right party banned and said that doesn’t fit with supporting publication of Mein Kampf.