French Auction House Cancels Nazi Memorabilia Sale Amid Outrage

An auction of Nazi memorabilia including a chest carved with swastikas owned by Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering’s passport was canceled in Paris, France on Monday, reports the BBC.

The event was scrapped after it faced strong objections by Jewish organizations. An influential French association of Jewish groups, the CRIF, described the event as “harming the memory of victims of Nazi barbarity.” French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti joined them in calling for the items to be withdrawn from sale, saying it was “necessary in the light of history and morality.”

The sale had been scheduled to take place on April 26, featuring 40 items seized from Hitler’s former home in Bavaria in May 1945 during the last days of the Third Reich. They included a 17th century manuscript belonging to Goering and a napkin bearing Hitler’s initials.

Laudine de Pas, the co-manager of the auction house Vermot de Pas, said the sale had not been intended to cause any controversy. “We were pitching this as part of the responsibility to remember – but in no way to shock or create a polemic,” she told the BBC.

[BBC]