"Items of the Holocaust, found after or during the Holocaust, or in the estates of the dead or murdered, should not become an auction," Naftali First, 89, a Holocaust survivor from Auschwitz, told Israel Today.
"If there is such a thing, it has a place in the exhibitions at Yad Vashem and not reach those over whom there is no supervision and no knowledge. Such an item should not reach private hands because if it is true it is an important historical find, and therefore it should be in an institution dealing with the Holocaust."
A series of condemnations were recorded after the publication in "Israel Today" that Nazi stamps used to tattoo Auschwitz prisoners were offered for sale.
These are templates that were used by the Nazis at one time in Auschwitz to massively tattoo prisoners, some Jewish and some non-Jewish, as part of the final solution.
"The place of historical items from the Holocaust period is in the Yad Vashem collection. Here they are preserved, researched, and serve as historical evidence for researchers and the general public," said Danny Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem. .
"Such trade, in our opinion, is problematic and we oppose it, both because of the moral flaw in trading in such items, and also because it encourages and creates a market for counterfeiting and trading in Nazi items that has expanded in recent years, both in auctions and online sales sites."
Eight stamps used by the Nazis, Photo: Jonathan Shaul
Rabbi Avraham Krieger, chairman of the Shem Olam Institute, also noted that this is a problematic phenomenon. We as a body have set ourselves a very clear caveat - we do not participate in all kinds of grandiose sales. Unfortunately, there is also a phenomenon in Israel of auction houses that agree to participate in this 'celebration'. To us, this is a wrong thing to do. The taboo that existed in the past, that Holocaust objects are not a business of commerce, is a bit broken. "Fortunately, there are still locals in Eastern Europe who understand that these objects have meaning in our eyes and are sometimes willing to give them away for free, for the sake of future generations."
Naftali, for his part, doubts by virtue of his bitter experience at Auschwitz whether these stencils were indeed widely used.
"I did not come across a man who was in Auschwitz who had a number on his hand, made by a stamp symmetrically. The number on my hand was made by a prisoner in Birkenau, when I was 12. I put my hand on a counter and he stabbed me with ink with a free hand and so the number was created."