'Mein Kampf' signed by Hitler up for auction in LA

LOS ANGELES - Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is one of the most racist and heinous screeds in modern history, but officials say two rare early editions signed by him could go for more than $20,000 at an online auction on Thursday.

Nate Sanders, owner of Nate D. Sanders Auctions in Los Angeles, says he knows he'll catch a lot of flack for putting the rare 1925 and 1926 books up for bid.

He said he understands that. "But it is a piece of history. It is a very rare item."

Hitler was arrested and jailed for the attempt to seize power. He dictated "Mein Kampf," two volumes of autobiography and anti-Semitic manifesto, to Rudolf Hess while behind bars to raise money for his criminal defense.

Both volumes' fly-leaves feature Hitler's signature.

Sanders said volumes of "Mein Kampf" from the 1930s are common, but a copy signed by the author is rare.

Sanders is also auctioning off a leather trench coat he said was worn by Albert Speer, a Nazi government minister who took responsibility for the Holocaust at the Nuremberg trials and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the Nazi regime.

Selling Nazi memorabilia is prohibited in many European countries that saw the horrors of World War II.