Former Niagara regional chair donates Mein Kampf copy to local museum

The Nazi propaganda book that led to the resignation of former Niagara regional chair Bob Gale will soon be put to good use.

Gale has donated his authenticated copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf to a local organization called Jewish Niagara that is planning on opening a museum in Niagara Falls.

Gale stepped down in the spring following allegations that he owned a signed copy of Adolf Hitler’s manifesto.

READ MORE: Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale resigns suddenly over Hitler-signed book

Months later, the director of Jewish Niagara says she chose not to jump to conclusions.

Perla Zaltzman says that even though the book was used as Nazi propaganda that eventually led to the murders of millions of Jews in the Holocaust, owning a signed copy is not in and of itself a bad thing.

Zaltzman says Gale explained why he had the book.

“Owning that historical artifact is not by itself bad or wrong, but it depends what you do with it. There’s ways that actually it can serve a purpose that is positive by being a source of evidence and proof that there was this ideology,” says Zaltzman.

She adds that seeing excerpts from the book in other museums is a powerful reminder of how so many people were brainwashed by hateful ideology.