Early Nazi period newspapers, including the official Nazi publication Voelkischer Beobachter, can be reprinted in Germany, according to a ruling by a Munich court.
Publishers’ rights on articles that appeared in Nazi newspapers prior to 1938 have elapsed, according to the Munich Regional Court whose judges partly threw out an attempt by the Bavarian state government to ban republication.
“Bavaria has claimed to have acquired the original publisher’s rights as well as copyrights of Adolf Hitler,” the court wrote. “The state doesn’t hold any copyrights that would allow it to stop” use of the articles published before 1939. Although the state acquired the rights of Eher-Verlag, which during that time published “Voelkischer Beobachter” and “Der Angriff,” or German for “The Attack”, a publishing house’s rights elapse 70 years after publication, the court said.
The Voelkischer Beobachter, which included inflammatory cartoons, was the Nazis’ official party newspaper and a primary propaganda device and agitation tool.
Bavaria has used Nazi-era intellectual-property rights it acquired after World War II to stop reprints of Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf,” and other Third Reich propaganda in an effort to prevent misuse by Neo-Nazis and to combat racism and anti- Semitism. Bavaria intends appealing the ruling.
Bavaria sought to ban the weekly “Zeitungszeugen,” (i.e. “Newspaper Witnesses,” which first went on sale in January. The weekly is trying to provide readers with insight into the media landscape of the Nazi Era, according to its Web site. Editions also include historian analysis and commentary. The magazine can’t reprint articles from 1939 to 1945 because Bavaria still holds rights for that period, the court said.
Comment:
I have grave reservations about using copyright law to prevent publications of offensive literature, particularly if it has historic value. The issue is one of Freedom of Information, censorship and Freedom of Speech vs. Racism, Incitement and the like.
I think the best solutions are education. If there is a need or justification for a legal solution to prevent publication, I would suggest that this is the kin of areas where a special law (lex specialis) is warranted.
