Nazi memorabilia on sale in Canberra
A Canberra auction house has come under fire for offering for sale Nazi memorabilia.
The Auction Barn in the Canberra suburb of Fyshwick held the auction today.
According to the Canberra Times, this is the third time in six months the company has offered Nazi memorabilia for sale.
Robert Cussell, president of the ACT Jewish community told J-Wire: “We have a substantial number of Holocaust survivors and their descendant living in the ACT and this type of activity is extremely insensitive of their feelings.”
Executive Director of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim added: “”It is sad to see how some people are willing to profit from the collection or sale of Nazi and Holocaust memorabilia while remaining ignorant of, or indifferent to, the racism, bigotry, persecution and mass murder with which these items are associated or worse, see these evils as part of the attraction.
“They are also desensitising others to the realities of Nazi brutality and the immense suffering it inflicted on millions of people.”
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, issued the following statement:
“Clearly, Auction Barn has chosen profit over moral and corporate responsibility and does not care about the feelings of Holocaust survivors and their families.
Indeed, Auction Barn co-ordinator Stan Jordan stated, “This is a business and we auction items on behalf of our sellers.”
It is plainly revolting and deplorable that there are companies in Australia that are making money by offering items that represent humanity’s most horrific crime, and which glorify antisemitism, bigotry and prejudice. As I have stated previously, this kind of trade diminishes and and trivializes the Holocaust and is highly hurtful to the victims, to the survivors and to their families.
I am enormously worried that because of this irresponsible peddling of items, such repugnant and perverse material will end up in the possession of racists and anti-Semites who will deploy it to advance their warped cause and to celebrate Nazism. Once again, we urge Auction Barn and other Australian auction houses to reflect deeply about what is right and what is ethical and to exercise their ethical judgement by immediately stopping such sales. We also call on our state and federal politicians to denounce such inexcusable conduct”
