German auction house cancels sale of Holocaust artefacts after outcry | Germany

An “offensive” auction of Holocaust artifacts in Germany has been canceled, Poland’s foreign minister said on Sunday, citing information from his German counterpart following complaints from Holocaust survivors.

Commenting on X, Radosław Sikorski said that he and German foreign minister Johann Wadephul “agreed that such a scandal must be prevented”.

The senior Polish diplomat thanked Wadephul for the information that the auction was cancelled.

A group of Holocaust survivors had previously called on German auction house Felzmann to cancel Monday’s sale of hundreds of Holocaust artifacts, including letters written by prisoners and other documents identifying many people by name.

The auction information list, which was on Auktionshaus Felzmann’s website on Sunday morning, was no longer on the site by afternoon. The home did not immediately respond to calls, email and text message Sunday.

According to the German news agency dpa, the collection of more than 600 items auctioned in West Neuss near Düsseldorf includes letters written by prisoners in German concentration camps to their loved ones at home, Gestapo index cards and other perpetrator documents. The title of the auction was “Terror System”.

Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, a Berlin-based group of survivors, said on Saturday: “For the victims of Nazi persecution and the survivors of the Holocaust, this auction is a cynical and shameless attempt that has left them outraged and speechless.”

“The history and suffering of those persecuted and killed by the Nazis are being exploited for commercial gain,” he added. The committee said people’s names could be identified in most of the documents.

Heubner said such documents “belong to the families of the victims, should be displayed in museums or memorial exhibitions, and should not be viewed as mere merchandise.”

“We call on those responsible at the Felzmann auction house to show some courtesy and cancel the auction,” he added.