Particle.news
Download on the App Store
8 ARTICLES
·
2h ago

Germany Cancels Auction of Holocaust Records After Outcry

Survivor groups argue the trove, which includes named victim files, should go to public archives or families rather than the market.

29 April 2020, Bavaria, Dachau: A Star of David and candles can be seen at the Jewish memorial on the grounds of the Dachau concentration camp memorial site. US soldiers liberated more than 30,000 people imprisoned in the camp on April 29, 1945. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa (Photo by Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Image
Israel National News
The star of David against a black background.

Overview

  • Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he was informed by German foreign minister Johann Wadephul that the sale had been canceled.
  • A senior North Rhine–Westphalia official said the auction house’s head confirmed the cancellation directly to the state government.
  • The online catalogue for “The System of Terror Vol. II 1933–1945” was taken down before the Monday auction planned in Neuss near Düsseldorf.
  • More than 600 lots included concentration camp letters, Gestapo index cards, a Dachau forced-sterilization record, a Mauthausen release form, worn Stars of David, and passports of Jews who escaped to Chile and Argentina.
  • The International Auschwitz Committee condemned the sale as exploitative and urged that the documents be preserved by museums or returned to families, while Felzmann did not immediately respond to media inquiries.