A prominent Holocaust survivors organisation is demanding the immediate cancellation of a German auction featuring hundreds of artifacts from the Nazi era, labelling the event a 'cynical and shameless' commercialisation of suffering.
Outcry Over 'The System of Terror' Sale
The International Auschwitz Committee, based in Berlin, has called for the halt of an auction titled 'The System of Terror'. The sale was scheduled for Monday by the Felzmann auction house in Neuss, a city in western Germany near Düsseldorf.
The collection comprised over 600 lots, including deeply personal items such as letters written by prisoners from German concentration camps to their families. Also listed for sale were Gestapo index cards and other official documents created by the perpetrators.
Survivors 'Outraged and Speechless'
Christoph Heubner, an executive vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, issued a powerful statement on Saturday condemning the auction. He stated that for victims of Nazi persecution and Holocaust survivors, the event is a 'cynical and shameless undertaking that leaves them outraged and speechless'.
Heubner emphasised that the history and suffering of those persecuted and murdered by the Nazis is being exploited for commercial gain. The committee also raised significant concerns that the names of identifiable individuals are present in many of the documents, adding a further layer of distress.
Appeal for Decency and Memorialisation
Asserting that such documents rightfully belong to the families of the victims, Heubner argued they should be preserved in museums or memorial exhibitions. He stated they should not be 'degraded to mere commodities' in a commercial auction.
'We urge those responsible at the Felzmann auction house to show some basic decency and cancel the auction,' Heubner added. By Sunday afternoon, the listing for the auction had been removed from the Auktionhaus Felzmann website. The auction house did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
