European Jewish Association head Rabbi Menachem Margolin made another appeal to the Israeli Minister of Justice and the Chairman of Yad Vashem. ”It is time to act to stop such auctions”, he said.
The auction house offers lots to the highest bidder that include ‘’an original canvas film of an employee in the gas chambers of the Dachau concentration camp at an opening price of $500” and “a postcard of a Jew with a Nazi stamp on his face. rare!!! At an opening price of $50.”
“The State of Israel must enact a law against the auction of Nazi items!”, said Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA) in another appeal to the Minister of Justice and the Chairman of Yad Vashem.
The European Jewish Association (EJA) said it is drafting an injunction against an auction by Israeli auction house, “Pentagon”. This auction house offers lots to the highest bidder that include ‘’an original canvas film of an employee in the gas chambers of the Dachau concentration camp at an opening price of $500” and “a postcard of a Jew with a Nazi stamp on his face. rare!!! At an opening price of $50.”
“Despite the shock we all felt with the previous sale of Nazi tattoo stamps used on the arms of Auschwitz prisoners, here again, to our shame, I am forced to address you in a hurry and with a deep sense of shock to request that you act immediately to prevent another shameful auction of Nazi items by an Israeli auction house,” Rabbi Margolin wrote.
He added: “At the European Jewish Association, EJA, we work resolutely and steadily both in the continental countries and with EU institutions to prohibit the trade and auction of Nazi items for profit. We are working closely with heads of state, ministers, and senior parliamentarians in EU countries to prevent the trivialization and promotion of Nazi heritage by putting such despicable items up for sale to the highest bidder. However, shamefully, it turns out that in the Jewish state, the State of Israel– again, there are those who want to tout these items and sell them to the highest bidder.’’
“In response to my previous letter, it was noted that things were being taken care of, but unfortunately – your eyes see, instead of recoiling from the negative public echo, there are those who see it as a “sales promotion”. It is time to act to stop such auctions by enacting legislation,’’ Rabbi Margolin wrote.
He concluded by saying that ‘’we are at your disposal to help formulate a legislative framework that will end this despicable phenomenon of making money in brazen contempt of the memory of the Holocaust and the memory of those who perished, not to mention the feelings of the survivors.’’