Is It Wrong for Relatives of Top Nazis to Sell Memorabilia?
Thursday October 29, 2009
Recently, the grandson of Auschwitz commander Rudolf Hoess contacted Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Israel, via a letter. In this letter, Reiner Hoess offered to sell the museum rare artifacts that had belonged to his grandfather. The objects included a fireproof box that was a gift from Heinrich Himmler, a letter opener, pictures of Auschwitz that have never been seen before, and letters written by Hoess when he was imprisoned in Krakow before he was executed.
Yad Vashem was disgusted by the offer. They would accept the items as a donation, but would never pay for them. Reiner Hoess said that others had offered to pay for the items, but thought it would be most appropriate for Yad Vashem to have the items.
Should people buy Nazi memorabilia from relatives of Nazi officials?
Comments
I don’t think anyone should buy Nazi memorabilia from anyone but the reality is there will always be someone who is willing to pay a price for anything. Being myself the grandaughter of a high elite Nazi officer, I think that Hoess’ grandson has absolutely no scruples and by offering to sell his grandfather’s items to Yad Vashem and I glad they refused. His doing so tells me he is either anti-semitic himself and wanted to insult them deliberately or else he is so money hungry that morals don’t come into play at all. In either case, he needs to be watched.
In a free society any of us has the right to set a price for and to sell any item(s) that we legally own.
Reiner Hoess has publicly shown the world that some apples do not fall far from the tree, no matter how diseased that tree may have been.
If Hoess has fallen on hard times I am sure that there is someone sick enough to enjoy owning the artifacts in question.
When his grandfather was hanged no one harvested the gold fillings from the dead man’s teeth. We managed to rid ourselves of the Nazis without stooping to their level.
I suggest that Mr Hoess advertise his ill gotten goods in one or more of the Araibic language newspapers that now circulate in Germany.
The Muslim world is awash in US and European cash and their value system is more inclined to agree with Nazi philosophy and Nazi psychology.
I don’t have a problem buying and selling historical pieces. Folks all over the world trade in just about everything;ie, WWII, WWI, War Between the States, etc………you are not supporting a long ago cause or religion or cult, but all the good and the evil are a part of history. It is all valuable.
These are historical documents and I would think the responsibility of a Holocaust Museum to acquire (at whatever reasonable means)these pieces for posterity. While the actions and motivations of Reiner Hoess are certainly open to questions of ethics and sensibilities, I believe the true mission of the museum would be to inform, preserve, and educate. The greater the mountain of incontrovertible proof of the Nazi’s institutionalized evil, the greater the impact, plain and simple.
if my grandfather did this, i would give these cursed items to the victims of that evil. this stuff can never be washed clean. it can only bear witness so it can never happen again. I would be ashamed of my grandfather. he was a mass murderer. i would not want to be any part of this. i would change my name and help the victims and their families. no money can be of any use if gotten from these deeds. It’s like the gold that Judas received by betraying CHRIST.