German historian condemns auction of Auschwitz prisoners' belongings

Personal belongings of prisoners of Nazi concentration camps should be in museums, not at auctions. German historian and publicist Frank Schumann told Izvestia about this on November 17.

"These documents [which they tried to sell at auction] belong to the museum. It is best, of course, [to store them] in the place where they were created, that is, in the concentration camp or the Auschwitz memorial complex in Poland," he said.

Schuman said that the Landtag of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the associations of political victims have already responded to the situation. At the same time, a protest rally was held outside the auction house in Neuss, the historian said. He also noted that there are enough museums in Germany that preserve anti-fascist heritage, where such artifacts could occupy a worthy place.

The day before, it was reported that an auction in Germany for the sale of Holocaust-related items was criticized by the International Committee of Auschwitz (IAK). It was clarified that the Felzmann Auction House in Neuss, Germany, wanted to sell 632 documents and objects that belonged to the victims of the Holocaust, including the collection of documents "System of Terror. Volume II", which contains letters from concentration camp prisoners, as well as Nazi criminals, is indicated in the publication.

Gunnar Lindemann, a member of the German Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said the auction was a terrible event. The politician added that valuable historical documents should be kept in the museum so that historians and researchers could have access to them. At the same time, he noted that copies can be made for those who want to get their hands on these materials.

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