Nazi items removed from Montreal auction site after Jewish org. criticism
A Jewish organization based in Toronto sounded the alarm on an auction website promiting the sale the Nazi relics for profit.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFA bust of dictator Adolf Hitler, among other Nazi artifacts seized in the house of an art collector, is on display in Buenos Aires, in this undated handout released on June 20, 2017. (photo credit: ARGENTINE MINISTRY OF SECURITY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
A Jewish organization based in Toronto sounded the alarm on an auction website promoting the sale of Nazi relics for profit, the CBC reported.Avi Benlolo, CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center For Holocaust Studies, said that "there aren't any laws against selling Nazi memorabilia. We've seen it happen on many occasions. Our position is it is quite revolting to sell memorabilia from a genocide."Following intense criticism from the organization, the website that was hosting the auction, Encans en Ligne Montreal, on QuebecHiBid.com, removed all advertisements for WWII-era items as of Wednesday, despite the presence of several bids for some of the Nazi relics.Some of the items included metal badges with swastikas, a statuette of a Nazi imperial eagle and two daggers. In an email responding to the criticism, the company that hosted the auction noted 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."After the closure of the auction for Nazi memorabilia, the items were returned to their owners, who were advised to donate them to educational institutions or museums.Benlolo highlighted a question as to whether the sale of such items should be illegal, which he noted is a growing phenomenon, adding that "We have seen it in flea markets, open on display. That's partly because there's a rising tide of Nazi movements, white supremacist movements collecting and venerating and celebrating this kind of ideology."The CEO also provided cases of precedence on the illegality of keeping Nazi memorabilia, saying that while it is less common in Canada, possessing such items is prohibited in many parts of Europe."I think we, as a society, should think about whether there should be laws against collecting this memorabilia," Benlolo added."It is important to not infringe on freedom of expression," he said, but added that if such items do become prolific and give rise to hate-based ideology, "then we need to take serious consideration as to whether it should be outlawed."