F O L K E T I B I L D / K U L T U R F R O N T 10/97
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 MEIN KAMPF BANNED |
The criminal case was opened on request of the Bavarian Ministry of Finance, which claimed to have confiscated Hitler's copyright for its own use.This was alleged to have happened on the basis of Allied de-nazification legislation.
| Ruling by the Stockholm Court of Appeal reported by Erik Göthe, Defence Attorney |
- whether Bavaria has any copyright to Mein Kampf and, if so, whether this copyright can be recognized as valid in Sweden.According to the Defence, the essential matter in the case was whether the confiscation carried out by Bavaria in 1965 was valid in Bavaria and, if so, whether that confiscation has any effect in Sweden. Both questions were answered in the negative by the Defence. Since copyright is situated in each copyright-protecting nation separately, a confiscation of copyright made in a foreign country, even if legally made there, cannot be legally recognized in Sweden. Nor are there any Swedish laws allowing confiscation of copyright.The Defence also referred i.a. to the Berne Convention and to the war-time law cases of 1941, through which the Swedish Supreme Court refused to recognize confiscations made by German authorities to the extent those confiscations were meant to have effect on property situated in Sweden. The Defence also referred to an eqvivalent case in Bologna, Italy, in 1971.The matters of the case as formulated by the Defence, however, were not dealt with by the court, which easily - although after a spectacularily long time for consideration - answered its own questions.The Court held
- that the copyright of Mein Kampf was confiscated 'in its entirety' and that 'the Free State of Bavaria has acquired it'; 'there is no reason to question the validity of the acquisition in Germany';- that the confiscation of the copyright and its acquisition by Bavaria does not conflict with international law or the Berne Convention;- that the confiscation of copyright - or the forfeiture of such a right as the result of a crime - is in accordance with the Swedish ordre public only in exceptional cases; in this connection the Court says that 'there is an element of moral rights that - according to Swedish law - may not be transferred at all'; (the Defence has pointed out that copyright cannot - at all - be the object of confiscation by authorities);- that forfeiture of copyright can take place as a consequence of a crime by the copyright-owner, provided 'the forfeiture is decided because of an act which, also according to the Swedish point of view, constitutes a serious crime';- that 'Sweden has recognized the creation of the transitional constitution /of Germany/ through the Potsdam-conference in 1945; the laws and regulations created to liberate Germany from Nazism cannot in themselves be considered as obviously inconsistent with the Swedish legal view'.- that 'the interests of a personal character which are attached to this literary work - which after the decease of the author belong to his heirs - and his own literary reputation are, considering the circumstances, no interest worth protecting in this case'.Instead of the penalty of a fine of SEK 5,000, valid during the judicial procedure, the Court of Appeal set a penalty to the unusually high sum of SEK 1,000,000 (£ 100,000), which is the sum the Hägglund Publishing house vill have to pay in case it publishes Mein Kampf again.As a consequence, Hitler's book, instead of being openly debated in the political life of Sweden, is likely to be confined to the marginal neo-nazi circles in Sweden, where other publications of Mein Kampf all along have been printed without any disturbance from Bavarian authorities.Strongly worded protests were lodged against the initial proceedings against Mr. Kalle Hägglund in 1994. The Swedish Writers' Union and the Swedish Association of Publishers expressed their deep concern. The interference into internal Swedish affairs made by the German ambassador and German officials of the embassy in Stockholm have been pointed out, with references made to Sweden's long democratic tradition and the extremely succesful struggle against nazism in the 1930's, which was carried out under protection of the freedom of speech for all political views, including that of the Nazis. It was generally believed that the banning of Mein Kampf in 1994 in Sweden would be amended by the Regional Court of Appeal in Stockholm.The Defence announced on the 14th of October that an appeal will be made to the Supreme Court of Sweden.F O L K E T I B I L D / K U L T U R F R O N T 10/97
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