Bob Gale has resigned as chair of the Niagara Regional authority in Canada after it emerged that he owned a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf signed by the Nazi leader. The book is now set to be donated to a Jewish group.
Anti-racism activists demanded an "explanation and apology" when reports surfaced that Gale owned the antisemitic book authored by Hitler. Hours later, Gale resigned from his role in a letter.
Resignation and donation
In his resignation letter, Gale did not mention Mein Kampf by name but said he was the "owner of a historical book found in many libraries." He added that he owned a range of important historic documents before stating the book would be donated to a Jewish group to be displayed in a museum.
Niagara heritage consultant Jon Jouppien, who appraised Gale's copy of Mein Kampf, confirmed Gale was a collector of historical articles. Jouppien said: "It's not to be taken as an insult to any anti-racist group. It was collected in the sincere interest of history."
Jouppien added that "not many people have the resources [Gale has]" to preserve rare items and that his collection is a contribution to history.
Gale's collection and the book's history
In his resignation letter, Gale wrote: "As everyone knows, I am a passionate historian with a broad collection of historical art and artifacts," adding, "my collection includes an 1859 letter from anti-slavery advocate John Brown, a letter from George Washington, a letter from Winston Churchill and Vatican archives."
The anti-racism groups said they received information from a whistleblower that Gale purchased Hitler's book, written while the future dictator was in prison, at auction in 2010 and that the book and Hitler's signature were authenticated in 2018.
The groups questioned the acts of buying and taking the time to get an "authenticated signature of the genocidal fascist dictator responsible for the holocaust and World War II."
Jewish Niagara receives the book
The director of Jewish Niagara, Perla Zaltzman, says they have been given the book for free to use in a museum they are looking to open. 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 to her personally. "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 and she hopes the book will lure people to her exhibition.
