Russia / Nazism

Russia Bans Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' over Fears It Fuels Rise of Far-Right
The Telegraph, March 26, 2010
"Adolf Hitler's book 'Mein Kampf' has been banned in Russia in an attempt to combat the growing allure of far-Right politics. Russian prosecutors on Friday banned the 1925 semi-autobiographical book, saying its outline of racial supremacy encouraged extremist and violent behaviour. Despite including tracts that are both anti-Jewish and anti-Russian, it has become increasingly popular among Russia's far-Right groups. Russian extremists have attacked migrant workers from poor nations in Central Asia and the Caucasus who come to Russia and often have menial jobs and squalid living conditions. African and Asian students and Russians who do not look Slavic have also been targeted. At least 60 people were killed and 306 injured in hate attacks in Russia last year, according to Sova, a Moscow-based non-governmental organisation that tracks racist violence. The ban was initiated after a regional office of the prosecutor sought new ways to combat extremism and found the book was being distributed in the Ufa region. Hitler dictated the book to his aide Rudolf Hess while in prison in Bavaria after the failed Munich 'Beer Hall' putsch of 1923. It sets out his doctrine of German racial supremacy and ambitions to annex huge areas of the Soviet Union. 'Mein Kampf' has been banned in Germany since the Second World War. In Germany, it is illegal to distribute it except in special circumstances, such as for academic research."
[n.b. This is the complete text of the dispatch.]