Brazilian Jews Celebrate Ban on Publishing of Unannotated ‘Mein Kampf’

Mein Kampf Image by Getty Images
A Brazilian publisher has decided to cancel the release of a new printing of “Mein Kampf” after strong pressure from the Jewish community and scholars.
Editing company Edipro reportedly decided on Thursday to call off a first printing run of 1,000 copies, saying it was an old translation to Portuguese from the 1930s, with no commentary. The release was slated for late January.
Vice-president of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation and also president of the Rio de Janeiro Jewish Federation, Paulo Maltz, announced that legal procedures are under discussion to prevent national distribution of the book authored by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“The book is Nazi propaganda and, under Brazilian law selling it is a non-bailable crime,” added Osias Wurman, Israel honorary consul in Rio.
However, Wurman joined some major interested publishers in Brazil in giving a thumbs up to an annotated edition, saying: “People need to understand what happened.”
“I will sell it because it’s a historic document and some people have already been looking for it. But it will go straight to the shelves, it won’t be on display,” said Laura Gasparian, owner of Argumento bookstore.
Indeed a 1,000-page edition – with the 650 pages from the original manifesto – is being designed along with 305 notes from an American edition plus other commentary from prominent Brazilian historians.
The 70-year copyright in Germany of the anti-Semitic tract, whose title means “My Struggle,” expired on Jan. 1, allowing it to be published in the country for the first time since World War II.
Brazilian Jews celebrate ban on publishing of ‘Mein Kampf’
January 19, 2016 9:40am (JTA) — A Brazilian publisher canceled the release of a new printing of “Mein Kampf” after strong pressure from the Jewish community and scholars.
Editing company Edipro reportedly decided on Thursday to call off a first printing run of 1,000 copies, saying it was an old translation to Portuguese from the 1930s, with no commentary. The release was slated for late January.
Vice-president of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation and also president of the Rio de Janeiro Jewish Federation, Paulo Maltz, announced that legal procedures are under discussion to prevent national distribution of the book authored by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
BREAKING NEWS El Salvador denies it is moving embassy from Tel Aviv to Ramallah Nisman remembered one year after his still-mysterious death Brno Jewish community unveils new Torah scroll “The book is Nazi propaganda and, under Brazilian law selling it is a non-bailable crime,” added Osias Wurman, Israel honorary consul in Rio.
However, Wurman joined some major interested publishers in Brazil in giving a thumbs up to an annotated edition, saying: “People need to understand what happened.”
“I will sell it because it’s a historic document and some people have already been looking for it. But it will go straight to the shelves, it won’t be on display,” said Laura Gasparian, owner of Argumento bookstore.
Indeed a 1,000-page edition – with the 650 pages from the original manifesto – is being designed along with 305 notes from an American edition plus other commentary from prominent Brazilian historians.
The 70-year copyright in Germany of the anti-Semitic tract, whose title means “My Struggle,” expired on Jan. 1, allowing it to be published in the country for the first time since World War II.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 3
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 4
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Chicago man charged with hate crime for attack of two Jewish DePaul students
-
Fast Forward In the ashes of the governor’s mansion, clues to a mystery about Josh Shapiro’s Passover Seder
-
Fast Forward Itamar Ben-Gvir is coming to America, with stops at Yale and in New York City already set
-
Fast Forward Texas Jews split as lawmakers sign off on $1B private school voucher program
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.