Auschwitz tattoo stamp auction in Jerusalem sparks fury

[marble falls]

Auschwitz tattoo stamp auction in Jerusalem sparks fury

Published

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-59092935




Tattoo stamps and instruction bookletImage source, Tzolmans auction house
Image caption, The tattoo stamps are being auctioned with an instruction booklet from the manufacturer, Aesculap




-snip-

The tattoo was permanent and such markings have become one of the grimmest symbols of the Nazi Holocaust, in which some 6 million Jews were systematically murdered by Adolf Hitler's regime across Europe during World War Two.

According to the auction house, the set for sale is one of only three known to exist. It says one is held at the Military Medical Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, and the other at the Auschwitz Museum, which has memorialised the site of the camp in what was then Nazi-occupied Poland.

-snip-

The chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem national Holocaust memorial, Dani Dayan, tweeted that the institution "opposes the existence of a market for Jewish or Nazi objects from the time of the Holocaust", adding that "greedy traders" only serve to encourage this kind of activity.

The head of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, has written to Israel's justice minister urging him to put a stop to what he called the "despicable sale", according to Hamodia newspaper.

[ForgedCrank]

1. I get the outrage, but we need to stop and think

before we insist on the erasure of everything Nazi.
In fact, we need to ensure that all of it is preserved.
All of it should be outlawed for private sale and possession, and instead, collected and displayed in public with proper context. Trying to erase their brand is a mistake of epic proportions. That is the prominent reaction to anything Nazi in areas of Europe especially. Everyone, even 300 years from now, should know the truth of what those people did, and their brand should be stamped on all of it, forever.
I do take issue with private individuals profiting from it and collecting it though, so I kind of understand the outrage.

[harumph]

2. I agree, such execrable items should be on display

- their existence is an indictment.

[marble falls]

3. I agree.Tthe part that bothers me is if it goes for big bucks and goes not to a museum ...

... (the holocaust museum in Washington strikes me as a good place), but to a private or non Jewish collector.