Huh?
The Texas Deparmtent of Criminal Justice this week announced the list of all the books that prison inmates are not allowed to read, and they run the gamut from children's books like the 'Where's Waldo' series to 'The Color Purple,' Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning novel.
But among the books that are not prohibited for inmates is Mein Kampf, the political testament of Adolf Hitler.
Gilad Katz, Israel's Consul General in Houston, has written a letter to the Chairman of the TDCJ, requesting that the Hitler book be removed.
"It is very very important, mainly with inmates, you have to know exactly what they read, which ideas they get to know," he told 1200 WOAI News. "The Nazi ideas are exactly the opposite of the United States and the State of Texas."
The TDCJ said it has not yet received Ambassador Katz' letter.'
'Mein Kampf' or 'My Struggle,' was written, ironically, when Hitler was in prison, convicted of trying to overthrow Germany's Weimar Republic. It clearly sets out Hitler's anti-Semitic worldview, and his opinion that Jews should be removed from Germany.
Katz says he knows all too well how that worked out."Half of my family were mudered in the Holocaust," he said.
"I know exactly what Mein Kampf means, and what was the result of Mein Kampf."
The list of banned books, and the fact that Mein Kampf is not banned, was first reported by the Dallas Morning News.