Montreal auction house selling Nazi memorabilia as 'historical artifacts'

Nazi relics and memorabilia were put up for sale on a Montreal auction site, including weapons, badges, and clothing once belonging to supporters of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

A Nazi armband with a swastika displayed in the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A Nazi armband with a swastika displayed in the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A Montreal auction house has stirred criticism and concern over a new auction lot containing Nazi war memorabilia.
Enchères Champagne, an auction house located in Montreal, Canada, launched an online live auction on Thursday titled "Military auctions - German WWII" which contains artifacts from Nazi Germany.
Some of the items being sold include iron crosses, medals, pins, and numerous items containing the image of the Nazi eagle and swastika.
They are also selling numerous Nazi daggers, helmets, belts, shoes, pouches, patches, and flags with Nazi imagery on it, such as the swastika or images of Hitler, not to mention the infamous red armband. 
The 128 lots began to sell on Thursday at 6 p.m. local time.
"We are selling historical pieces for military collectors," said Claude Champagne of the auction house in response to widespread criticism over the sales, according to Montreal's CTV News.
In February 2020, another Montreal-based auction house, Encans en Ligne Montreal, was bashed for putting Nazi relics up for sale. 
Some of the items included metal badges with swastikas, a statuette of a Nazi imperial eagle and two daggers. The company that hosted the auction noted in response to the backlash that "we have removed all German items from our online auction site. Not being experts in the field, we accepted the objects because our client advised us that they were just items from WWII that he inherited."
In April, an Oregon auction house put a dagger once belonging to Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler up for sale, prompting a wave of backlash. The auction house ended up taking the lot down.
The German National Socialism Party, or Nazi Party for short, was responsible for the genocide of two-thirds of Europe's Jews in the Holocaust. Millions were murdered under the hateful and fascist regime led by Adolf Hitler.

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Selling items from the era has been commonly frowned upon, as even though it may be intended for historical preservation, the buyers are oftentimes neo-Nazis - far-rightists who take inspiration from the Nazis - who supported the Third Reich and its actions.
Enchères Champagne did not respond to The Jerusalem Post's request for comment at this time.