A Northern Ireland auction house is going ahead with the sale of Adolf Hitler memorabilia despite an outcry from Jewish leaders.
The managing director of Bloomfield Auctions, Karl Bennett, rebuffed accusations on Wednesday that the sale was immoral and would insult the memory of those murdered by the Nazis.
A silver-plated pencil with the initials AH and an original signed photograph of Hitler are among 10 Nazi-themed lots expected to go under the hammer in Belfast on 6 June. Other items include a lead crystal champagne glass, a silver serving tray, a fork and a porcelain jug purportedly from the dictator’s dining tables.
“All items are a part of history, and we shouldn’t be writing history out of books or society,” Bennett said in a statement. “In my experience those who buy such items are legitimate collectors who have a passion for history. We do not seek to cause hurt or distress to any one or any part of society. All items have a story and tell of a particular time in history.”
The most valuable item financially is the pencil. Believed to have been a gift from Hitler’s partner, Eva Braun, for his 52nd birthday on 20 April 1941, it is predicted to sell for between £50,000 and £80,000.
The chair of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, asked Bennett to withdraw the items on moral grounds. “We simply cannot fathom how a love trinket such as an engraved pencil or a signed photograph constitutes a historical object of any inherent historical value,” he said.
The auction would perpetuate a macabre global trade in Nazi-owned artefacts, he added: “The defence from Munich to Maryland is the same: these items are of historical interest. They are anything but. Let there be no doubt, items of genuine historical interest do belong in museums or places of learning. This we fully support.”
Buyers’ motives were unknown and trading in “metaphorically blood-soaked” items could glorify mass murder, said Margolin. “Their trade is an insult to the millions who perished, the few survivors left and to Jews everywhere.”
Others echoed the criticism. The founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, Oliver Sears, said the material was tainted beyond mitigation or redemption. “There is only one reason to go ahead with the sale and that is to make money regardless of the circumstances,” he told RTÉ.
Several countries including Austria and Germany ban the sale of Nazi memorabilia. The UK does not, but the auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams eschew Nazi items.
Bloomfield Auctions cancelled the 2019 sale of swastika-emblazoned tableware purportedly made for Hitler’s 50th birthday after protests. Bennett cited “sensitivities surrounding the items”.
