Hitler's Mein Kampf publisher goes on trial

Regional prosecutors in the western city of Wroclaw brought the case against the publisher after his Wroclaw-based XXL publishing house printed 3,000 copies of the Polish translation of Mein Kampf, or "My Struggle," a press official at the Wroclaw court said, requesting anonymity.

Photo: Hitler's Mein Kampf publisher goes on trial

Hitler's Mein Kampf publisher goes on trial

In the book, Hitler expressed his hatred of Jews and desire to conquer territory in Eastern Europe, the AP reports.

The publisher, identified only as Marek S. under Poland's privacy law, could face up to three years in prison if convicted, the court official told The Associated Press.

Last year, Marek S. agreed to halt printing and withdraw the work from bookstores at his own cost to settle a civil case brought against him by Polish prosecutors and the German state of Bavaria, which holds the rights to the book.

The publisher originally said it published the book to make a historical record available and also cited "a 1,000-year-old worry" among Poles about "the German dream of vast fertile lands and natural resources in the east."

Nazi Germany invaded Poland to start World War II, and subjected the country to a brutal occupation that cost millions of lives. The Nazis set up death camps in Poland as part of the Holocaust in which 6 million European Jews died.

"Mein Kampf" is banned from public display or sale in Germany, though it is available for historical research in libraries.