AP
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Poland’s foreign minister announced on Sunday that an “offensive” auction of Holocaust artifacts in Germany had been canceled following complaints from Holocaust survivors, relaying information from Germany’s foreign minister.
Commenting on the X platform, Radosław Sikorski said that he and German Foreign Minister Johann Vardepur “agreed that scandals like this must be stopped.” Poland’s top diplomat thanked Mr Wadeplu for providing information that the auction had been cancelled.
Earlier, a group of Holocaust survivors called on German auction house Feltsmann to halt Monday’s sale of hundreds of Holocaust-related artifacts, including letters written by prisoners and documents that could identify many people.
A listing of information about the auction posted on Auction House Feltsman’s website on Sunday morning disappeared from the site by mid-afternoon. The home did not immediately respond to calls, emails and text messages Sunday.
A collection of more than 600 properties to be auctioned in the western Neuss area near Düsseldorf included letters written by prisoners in German concentration camps to loved ones back home, Gestapo index cards and other criminal documents, German news agency dpa reported. The title of the auction is “System of Fear.”
“For victims of Nazi persecution and Holocaust survivors, this auction is a cynical and shameless undertaking that leaves them outraged and speechless,” Christoph Heubner, vice president of the Berlin-based survivors group International Auschwitz Committee, said in a statement on Saturday.
“Their history and the suffering of all those persecuted and murdered by the Nazis is being exploited for commercial gain,” he added. The committee said many of the documents had identifiable individuals.
Heubner said these persecution and Holocaust documents “belong to the families of the victims. They should be displayed in museums and memorial exhibitions, not reduced to mere commercial products.”
“We urge those in charge of Feltsman Auction House to show some basic decency and cancel the auction,” he added.
