German neo-Nazis plan to publish unabridged copy of Mein Kampf

German prosecutors have launched an investigation after a neo-Nazi group announced it is to bring out an edition of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. The Nazi autobiography recently became available for republication for the first time since the Second World War.

In January, the German Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich announced it was to publish a heavily annotated version of the book, after the copyright held by the city's municipal authorities expired.

Critics argued that publishing the book broke laws banning the promotion of Nazi ideology however authorities approved the IfZ edition, which contained notes to place the text in its historical context, and unravel its poisonous mixture of extreme nationalism and anti-Semitic propaganda.

However, a Bavarian neo-Nazi group plans an "unabridged printing without tedious do-gooder commentary", Bild reported after obtaining an email sent to members.

The edition will be produced by Leipzig printers Der Schelm, whose owner, Adrian Preissinger, has been convicted on multiple counts of inciting racial hatred, glorifying violence, and the use of banned symbols since 2002.

The website of the publishers contains an advert for the edition, which it says will be available to subscribers for €27 (£20, $30) in July. The publisher also offers editions of Henry Ford's notorious anti-Semitic tract, The International Jew, a key influence on Nazism, and works by Third Reich ideologue Alfred Rosenberg.

The edition of Mein Kampf will be published in conjuction with the Adelaide Institute, an Australian Holocaust Denial group.

Prosecutors in the city of Bamberg said they were "investigating whether or not charges could be brought" against the publisher to block the edition.