Adolf Hitler’s Nazi manifesto Mein Kampf (My Struggle) will be reprinted in Germany for the first time since the end of World War II.

The controversial book, which outlined Hitler’s political ideology and plans for Germany, is widely available in English and other foreign languages, but has been banned from either being published or sold in the country since 1945.

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The copyright for the 2000-page book is owned by the German state of Bavaria – which has blocked attempts to duplicate it – but those rights expire in December.

According to the Washington Post, a heavily annotated version of Mein Kampf will be released in early 2016 and used as a “vital academic tool”.

Copies of the book are kept locked away in the Bavarian State Library, with librarians calling it “too dangerous for the general public”.

Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism spokesman Levi Salomon slammed the book’s republication, and said Mein Kampf was “outside of human logic”.

“I am absolutely against the publication of Mein Kampf, even with annotations. Can you annotate the Devil? Can you annotate a person like Hitler?” Mr Salomon told the Washington Post.

The book was first published in 1925, before Hitler became chancellor in 1933.

Germany’s Institute of Contemporary History, the taxpayer funded group publishing the manifesto, said it was important for communicating Germany’s history.

“I understand some immediately feel uncomfortable when a book that played such a dramatic role is made available again to the public,” institute deputy director Magnus Brechtken said.

“On the other hand, I think that this is also a useful way of communicating historical education and enlightenment — a publication with the appropriate comments, exactly to prevent these traumatic events from ever happening again.”