German auction house under fire again for selling Hitler papers

Less than a year after it spurred widespread Jewish condemnation for selling Nazi memorabilia, a Munich auction house is selling several manuscripts written by Adolf Hitler.

The European Jewish Association blasted Hermann Historica on Tuesday over the several Hitler papers it has on the block for Friday. Many are notes written before infamous speeches the Nazi leader gave in the 1930s.

“It defies logic, decency and humanity for the very same auction house that came under fire less than a year ago for selling disgusting lots of Nazi memorabilia that they should do so again,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the Brussels-based association, said in a statement. “I cannot get my head around the sheer irresponsibility and insensitivity, in such a febrile climate, of selling items such as the ramblings of the world’s biggest killer of Jews to the highest bidder.”

Last November, the house auctioned 10 items that belonged to Hitler, including a top hat, and other Nazi memorabilia, such as a silver-plated copy of “Mein Kampf” that once belonged to senior Nazi Hermann Goering. A Lebanese-Swiss businessman bought all the items and donated them to Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal, an international organisation that raises funds for Israel.

The EJA statement says the organisation has since been lobbying European lawmakers to ban the sale of Nazi memorabilia.