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Bavaria Demands Halt on Reprinting Nazi Newspapers

In a new project known as "Zeitungszeugen," copies of German newspapers from the 1930s and 1940s are published in a weekly series aimed at schools and the general public.

The first issue of reprints begins with the day that Adolf Hitler was elected German chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933. "Reichskanzler Hitler," reads the headline.

Intended for educational purposes, the facsimiles are annotated by German historians and juxtaposed with texts published by the political opposition of the time. They were made available for sale to German bookstores on Jan. 8 for 3.90 euros ($5.20).

Copyright claims and fear of extremism

On Friday, Jan. 16, however, the state of Bavaria contended that it owned the copyright to the old newspapers and demanded that Albertas, the British publishing house responsible for the Zeitungszeugen project, abandon the project and recall stocks for pulping.

Read entire article at Deutsche Welle