Mein Kampf is a best-seller after decades of being restricted

A year after it returned to Germany, Adolf Hitler's autobiography has become a best-seller.

Mein Kampf, the Nazi manifesto, had not been published in Germany since the Second World War as the copyright was held by the state of Bavaria until the end of 2015.

In January 2016, a new edition was published by the Institute of Contemporary History of Munich.

Since then, 85,000 copies have been sold and the book is now in its sixth print run.

The original Mein Kampf - which means "My Struggle" - was written during Hitler's time in prison and contains autobiographical information and explains the hate-filled anti-Semitic and extremist views that led to the deaths of millions of people.

It was published in two volumes in 1925-26 but, after the war, the Bavarian state refused to allow the book to be reprinted out of respect for the victims of the Nazis and to prevent the incitement of further hatred.

Readers of the new edition, which features thousands of annotations, corrections, footnotes and critical commentaries designed to rebut Hitler's original ramblings, said the book has fostered debate about today's rise of far-right political views.

One Berlin resident said: "I think there's value in that because you've got a resurgence of right-wing politics, especially like in the UK and people don't seem to realise it."

Another said: "I think it's super important given that the fear propaganda is being used so much in America right now, which is very prominent.

"I think that if we really dissected some historical events, it would go a really long way."

:: October 2016 - Austria to demolish the house where Hitler was born

Historians generally agree, with Ardent Bauerkamper, a historian at the Free University of Berlin, saying that, while Hitler was important for German socialism, he "would have been a nobody in a different context".

"Hitler would be a nobody today. Hitler needed certain conditions in order to found his National Socialist movement," he said.

Mr Bauerkamper added that he did not think the new edition would encourage the rise of white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

"This is a critical edition. I mean, there are a lot of annotations, a lot of corrections, a lot of footnotes, remarks, critical commentaries. So I don't think this edited edition of Mein Kampf is really a danger," he said.