Auction house: "We will not allow more trade in Nazi items" | Israel today

The war on trade in Nazi items is gaining momentum: The BidSpirt website, which serves as a platform for more than 200 auctions around the world, many of them in Israel, informed business owners that they were completely banned from selling Nazi items, and even warned that it would cancel its contract with anyone who improved the The instruction.

In a recent letter sent to the auction houses, it was clarified that their owners have signed a letter of commitment prohibiting the sale of the horrific items.

Following this in recent days the site owners have removed Nazi items found, and they say they will wage a fierce war against the phenomenon.

"Can it be said that now they will not try to test our limits? I hope not, but we will deal with it decisively," said Nitzan Dickstein, marketing director at Bidspirit.

Collector: "Proud of my contribution"

Among the Nazi items removed are those that were published last week in "Israel Today" and caused a stir, after it became known that they had been offered for sale at the Pentagon Auction House.

The items are daggers, a flag, an SS officer's helmet and some badges of forced laborers at Daimler-Benz.

This publication was added to its predecessor, in November 2021, regarding the sale offer of Nazi stamps from Auschwitz that were used to tattoo prisoners - which led to a lawsuit on the subject in court, demanding the cancellation of the sale.

"We do not allow trade in such items," Dickstein said, "and we were appalled to see that the commitments before us had been breached."

He said the company could not inspect any of the more than 150,000 items offered on the site each month, but stressed: "We will not work with those who endanger us. If auctions continue to breach the commitment - we will reserve the right to terminate the contract."

Nazi guards in a concentration camp in Germany, Photo: AP

Collectors, on the other hand, are outraged at the ban.

Yariv Egozi, a collector of antiques and owner of an auction house, asked on Facebook from "The Puritans and the Beauty of the Soul," as he put it: "Spare me your shocked face."

According to him, the law must prohibit the production and trade in new Nazi items, but allow trade in historical items - precisely in order to fight Holocaust deniers.

"I am proud of my contribution to the documentation, preservation and research of the items," he said, "they must be allowed to be traded, otherwise they will be thrown in the trash. "Collect alms of objects as a donation, and not all the detractors who roll their eyes in horror at the very idea, but do not point a finger or put their hand in their pocket, purchase and donate."

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