German Holocaust Artifact Auction Cancelled After Polish Outcry

The auction, titled "System of Terror Vol. II," was to be hosted by Felzmann Auction House in Neuss on Monday, which had over 623 items listed before being removed from the website. Some of the intimate items were three notebooks written by a Polish Jew who survived the occupation and a letter from an Auschwitz prisoner to someone in Krakow, which started bidding at 500 euros.

Auschwitz, the former German death camp in southern Poland, was the largest extermination site of the Holocaust, where more than 1 million people were killed. Museum representative Agnieszka Kowalczyk-Nowak noted that there were over 20 items related to prisoners from the Majdanek concentration camp in eastern Poland.

Poland's Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression also said some items up for auction were items of memorabilia related to the Katyn massacre, a Soviet execution of Polish officers and intellectuals in 1940. Polish officials noted that the memorandum of victims should not be treated as commercial items. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski remarked, "The memory of Holocaust victims is not a commodity, and it cannot be a subject of commercial trade," and requested the return of items to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim.

Sikorski explained that Jan Tombiński, Poland's chargé d'affaires in Berlin, had informed him that the items were removed from the auction site after complaints were received. He spoke with German counterpart Johann Wadephul, and both agreed the items should not be sold.

Full Cancellation and Demands for Return of Items
According to Maciej Wewiór, spokesperson for Poland's Foreign Ministry, the government was not just asking for the suspension of the auction but also for the full cancellation. He stated that the artifacts should be sent to institutions and memorial sites for education and historical evidence for future generations. Marta Cienkowska, culture minister, added it was unacceptable to sell such memorabilia and stated, "Memory isn't for sale and thus it never will."

Rafał Leśkiewicz, spokesperson for Polish President Karol Nawrocki, said the president is expecting the government to secure the items' return and ultimately purchase all memorabilia related to the victims of German crimes in Poland. He added that the costs should be included in future reparations stemming from the war.

Items of Contention in the Catalogue
Among the contentious items was a medical diagnosis from the Dachau concentration camp documenting the forced sterilization of a prisoner, valued at around €400. Another listing was a file card from the Gestapo showing a Jewish prisoner was executed in the Mackheim ghetto in July of 1942, with the sale price starting at €350. Other items included a worn Star of David from the Buchenwald concentration camp, a Star of David armband, and some Nazi propaganda items, such as a program booklet and a poster.

The sale was condemned by Jewish organizations. The International Auschwitz Committee called the sale "a cynical and shameless act," and vice president Christoph Heubner said it was the profiteering of Nazi victims' suffering. The Fritz Bauer Institute from Frankfurt also condemned the auction, stating that it ignores the consideration of the historical significance and an individual's dignity.

Historical Legacy that Continues to Influence
About six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including about three million Polish Jews. Millions of other victims, including Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, the disabled and more, were also targeted and killed across German-occupied Europe. This legacy continues to cause tension between Polish and German relations.

In September, President Karol Nawrocki reiterated Poland's demand for World War II reparations from Germany, seeking to claim around €1.4 trillion for damages.