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.

Gale purchased book in 2010

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.

Jouppien says the inscribed copy, among the rest of Gale’s collection, were appraised “simply for insurance issues so that a general value can be put on the item that’s lost to a fire or stolen.” 

In his appraisal report, prepared for the Certified Appraisers Guild of America, Jouppien said Hitler’s signature was “challenging” to authenticate but he believed that “to the best of his judgement the signature in this volume is authentic,” when compared to other examples. 

An invoice issued by National Book Auctions to Robert Gale of Niagara-on-the-Lake, seen by CBC, details the purchase of the book on Dec. 5, 2010 for an amount of $6,345. U.S.-based Rare Book Hub, which maintains a database of rare book sales, confirmed a copy of Mein Kampf was sold on that date. Their record describes the copy as being inscribed by Hitler to his “close friend” Max Sauerteig.

According to the appraiser, Gale was “only imitating” Thomas Barnett, an English-born collector who built Canada’s first museum in 1827 in Niagara Falls.

Saleh Waziruddin of NRARA said “Bob Gale needs to explain himself publicly and apologize for owning one of the most notorious pieces of antisemitic hate.”

Sherri Darlene, founder of Justice 4 Black Lives Niagara, said in the joint statement that it’s no secret that racism has been a problem in the region for a long time.

“It’s shocking but not surprising that Niagara’s highest elected municipal official owns hate literature,” she said.

Member of ‘communist party circulated document,’ Gale said

The controversy comes at a time in which white nationalist groups in Niagara are becoming increasingly bold.

In a followup statement issued Thursday morning, Waziruddin said Mein Kampf reflects the same kind of hatred as those groups.

“White supremacist groups are publicly intimidating us in Niagara, pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories against migrants and trans people, so it was just untenable for any official, let alone the top politician, to hold on to a signed book that same hate is based on,” he said.

Waziruddin and Darlene urged Gale to destroy his copy of the book.

Gale was appointed regional chair by Flack in December following the death of former chair Jim Bradley. Flack cited Gale’s “strong record of public service” in announcing the appointment.

Gale said in his resignation letter Wednesday that “a member of the communist party circulated a dated document” that showed he owned a “historical book,” and that he was a target for some people when he undertook the work to begin “fixing the issues” at the Region.

“There was a strong vocal minority who decided they would stop at nothing in order to keep their fiefdoms and addiction to power and tax dollars,” he said. “They wish to paint a picture that is untrue and hurtful to my family, my friends, and those in Niagara that believe in the hard work I have undertaken.”

Earlier this year, Gale told the province he was “deeply contemplating” the possibility to amalgamate Niagara’s 12 municipalities to a one- or four-city model. After push back from residents, some local mayors and regional councillors, Niagara’s regional council voted in late February to hold Gale back from “any further action” concerning amalgamation.

CBC News has reached out to Gale for further comment.