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This gold watch attributed to Hitler will be auctioned in the USA
Photo: Alexander Historical Auctions / ddp / Ferrari Press
Shortly before the start of an auction of Nazi memorabilia, the organizer in the US state of Maryland came under criticism.
The Jewish umbrella organization European Jewish Association (EJA) is calling for the auction to be canceled.
Some legacies came from the environment of the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
"The sale of these items is despicable," said EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin in an open letter to the auction's organizers, Alexander Historical Auctions, in the US state of Maryland.
According to its own statements, the EJA represents various Jewish organizations in Europe.
In his letter, Margolin also referred to some items to be sold to the highest bidder at the event.
Among other things, one of Hitler's gold watches is advertised on the auction site, which the Führer is said to have received for his 44th birthday.
The current bid is $1 million.
According to the description, the watch was found by a French soldier at Hitler's vacation home in Berchtesgaden on May 4, 1945, as the Allies were advancing in the Bavarian mountains.
According to the auction house, several watchmakers and historians have confirmed that the watch is genuine and belonged to Hitler himself.
$12,000 for a sketch of the Munich Opera House
The auction catalog contains a total of 773 entries.
In addition to pieces of jewellery, uniforms, photos and posters, there are also drawings attributed to Hitler.
A sketch of the Munich Opera House, for example, is being advertised as "a superlative Adolf Hitler play"; the current bid is 12,000 US dollars.
A handsome price was also asked for the “Gauleiter” edition of the propaganda book “Mein Kampf”.
The value of Hitler's "last letter to Germany" is even estimated at up to 80,000 dollars.
In the yellowed copy of a telegram dated April 24, 1945, when the battle for Berlin was already in full swing, Hitler reported: "I'm staying in Berlin."
EJA chairman Margolin emphasized that Nazi legacies might belong in museums, but certainly not under the hammer.
The objects now up for auction from the possession of the »genocide« Hitler do not contribute in any way to learning from the atrocities of the Nazi era, he emphasized, referring to the estimated six million Jewish victims of the Nazi era.
Rather, Nazi admirers would be supported by the auction.
In the past there had been repeated criticism of auctions of Nazi memorabilia.
In the case of an auction in Munich, at which, among other things, Hitler's top hat was auctioned off, a businessman had bought some pieces but then announced that he would bequeath them to an Israeli foundation.
According to his own statements, he wanted to prevent the plays from being misused for »Neo-Nazi propaganda«.
fek/AFP
