An auction of a controversial Holocaust certificate has been cancelled, according to the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia. The head of the auction house told Head of State Chancellor Nathanael Liminski (CDU), said spokesperson Liminski. The controversial lot disappeared from the online preview of the auction house in Neuss on Sunday.
After the International Auschwitz Committee there was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul (CDU) sharply criticized the auction plan. “Things like this are completely inappropriate, and it must be clear that we have an ethical obligation to the victims to prevent such things,” said Wadephul as he started an overseas visit to several Balkan countries.
Telephone conversation with Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
Wadephul said he spoke with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski about the “terrible events”. He “completely agreed with him that attempts to make concessions to the evils of the Shoah are abhorrent and must stop.”
“We have noted that there is now one for tomorrow auction “It’s clearly no longer intended and something is missing from the website,” continued Wadephul. “But I hope that this process will be clarified and it will be ensured that such auction business does not occur in Germany.”
The International Auschwitz Committee criticized the auction plan
Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, announced on Saturday in Berlin that the announcement of an auction of the personal documents of Nazi victims was seen by Holocaust survivors and their relatives as a “cynical and shameless undertaking”.
The suffering of all those persecuted and murdered by the Nazis was misused for commercial gain. Documents of the persecution and the Holocaust belong to the families of those persecuted. Such items should be displayed in museums or memorial exhibitions and not reduced to commercial objects. “We demand those responsible Auction house “To maintain human decency and cancel the auction,” advised Heubner.
The “Terror System” auction was originally planned
The auction house wants to start the auction on Monday with the title “Terror System Volume II 1933–1945”. According to the International Auschwitz Committee, letters from concentration camps, Gestapo index cards, and other perpetrator documents must be provided, among other things. Many sections contain personal information and names of affected people.
Opponents of the auction called for a protest demonstration at the auction house via the Internet. According to the online catalogue, anti-Jewish propaganda posters, documents about forced sterilizations, and a Jewish star from the Buchenwald concentration camp with “signs of use” will also be auctioned. The auction house could not be reached for comment Sunday.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251116-930-300927/1
