Niagara Regional chair resigns over ownership of signed copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf

Niagara Regional Chair Bob Gale has abruptly resigned, just hours after anti-racism groups in Niagara demanded he apologize for owning a signed copy of Adolf Hitler's infamous manifesto, Mein Kampf.

The Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA) and Justice 4 Black Lives Niagara said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they condemned Gale for purchasing and owning the book signed by Hitler, the leader of the German Nazi Party and architect of the Holocaust, in which six million Jewish people were systematically murdered along with millions of Roma, 2SLGBTQ+ and other victims.

"[We] demand a public explanation and apology," the groups said.

Within hours, Gale wrote a formal letter of resignation to Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack, effective immediately. A spokesperson for Flack told CBC the minister has accepted Gale's resignation.

Gale, who stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy in recent weeks over his proposals to dramatically reshape the landscape of Niagara's municipal government system, did not mention Mein Kampf by name in his letter or confirm he owned it specifically.

He said he was merely the "owner of a historical book found in many libraries."

Gale noted he is also the owner of a range of important historic documents.

According to Niagara heritage consultant Jon Jouppien, who has appraised many of Gale’s items for decades, including a Mein Kampf signed by Hitler, his collection is worth millions of dollars.

“It’s not to be taken as an insult to any anti-racist group,” Jouppien told CBC News. “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, a former police officer, is also known in the region for running his family’s oil company starting in the 1980s.

Gale said, in his letter, "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 when the future dictator was in prison, from 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." 

Under Hitler, Nazis also banned opposing political parties, trade unions, the right to strike and, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, closed down or took over anti-Nazi newspapers, controlled what news appeared in media, banned and burned books that they categorized as un-German and controlled what soldiers wrote home during the war.