A new annotated German edition of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf has sold out in just a week - despite costing €59 (£44).
The 1,948 word version of the dictator’s political manifesto - which was first published in 1924 - was written by four Munich academics was published in Germany on 1 January after the book’s copyright expired.
The new edition of the book - which has been condemned by some Jewish groups - comes with 3,500 notes exploring the Nazi leader's anti-semitic rantings.
Despite the high price, more than 15,000 advance orders were made - nearly four times the initial print run of 4,000 copies, the Times reports.
One Berlin bookshop is reported to have sold out by noon on its first day of sale.
Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in 1924 while he was in prison for his role in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch (revolt) in 1923.
It laid out his hatred for the Jews and the Slavs and is is widely regarded as the blueprint for his genocidal regime.
The book was considered a failure when it was first released but went on to sell 5.2m copies between the Nazis rise to power in 1933 and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
After the Second World War, the Allied forces gave the copyright over to the state of Bavaria, which banned the reproduction of the book.
But as German law states copyright only stays in force for 70 years after the owner’s death, anyone will now be able to print new copies.
Dr Christian Hartmann - who led the team of academics who created the new edition - said if anyone was to reproduce it, it was better to have an edition that can challenge the lies within.
He told the Times: “It was important to us to reach many people so we have tried to create a very reader friendly edition.
“We firmly connect Hitler’s text with our comments, so that both are always on the same double page. I could describe it in martial terms as a battle of annihilation — we are encircling Hitler with our annotations."
But some Jewish leaders remain unconvinced.
Levi Salomon, spokesman for the Berlin-based Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism said in February: “I am absolutely against the publication of ‘Mein Kampf,’ even with annotations. Can you annotate the Devil? Can you annotate a person like Hitler?
“This book is outside of human logic.”
