Australian billionaire and political candidate Clive Palmer has reportedly purchased a car originally owned by Adolf Hitler, according to Australian media.
Palmer is an Australian senate candidate from Queensland and a member of the populist United Australia Party which he founded in 2013. He has recently been able to acquire Adolf Hitler's Mercedes-Benz 770 after two years of negotiations.
The Nazi leader's car was bought off an unnamed Russian billionaire, for the sum of 200,000 Australian dollars ($145,383), and will be added to Palmer's collection of vintage cars.
He reportedly hopes to open a museum showcasing his rare collection in the near future.
Dr. Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), Australia’s leading civil rights organization, has expressed his shock and issued a statement condemning the purchase:
“I can’t get my head around this perversity. This is morally wrong and crosses many red lines that I stopped counting." He continued, calling on Palmer to "look into his heart and to think about" all those murdered by the Nazis.
Abramovich, adds that "the vehicle of this monster, the world’s biggest murderer of Jews, should not form part of any vintage car collection or a car museum. If it belongs anywhere, it should be housed in an educational institution that educates about the Holocaust"
Dr. Abramovich ends his statement by calling on the Australian state governments to "de-Nazify the marketplace and criminalize the sale of this memorabilia in Australia so as to stamp out this grotesque and sinister practice."