Jesse James Posed as Adolf Hitler While Dating Sandra Bullock

Around 2004, a year before wedding Sandra Bullock, Jesse James posed as Adolf Hitler, wearing a German soldier's cap, miming the evil dictator's mustache and giving a "Heil, Hitler" salute.

The disturbing photo is featured in the new Us Weekly (on newsstands now).

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"He did it for shock value," a source tells Us Weekly of the shot, taken in James' home.

The photo comes out days after TMZ unearthed a shot of James' alleged mistress, tattoo model Michelle McGee, wearing a swastika armband at a photo shoot.

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Is James -- who has since checked into rehab -- a neo-Nazi?

Though some have suggested that his West Coast Choppers logo resembles the Third Reich emblem, the biker is "just a history buff," an insider tells Us Weekly. "He had a stepmom whose father lost family in the camps, and they'd talk about it growing up. Jesse's not a white supremacist."

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Adds another, "Gearheads are fascinated by war machines, including those of the Third Reich. But he's far from a neo-Nazi."

Right, he's not a Neo-Nazi. He just dates Nazi chicks, has a company with a logo favored by Nazis, and poses for photographs doing Nazi salutes.

But, he's no Nazi.

Where'd you ever get an idea like that?