As pressure mounts on the Australian government to criminalize the sale of Nazi memorabilia, two Jewish men were forced from a Perth auction where personal effects of Adolf Hitler were being sold.
According to the Australian Jewish News, the father and son from Perth were told that the police would be called if they did not leave the premises.
The auction by JB Military Antique of items belonging to Adolf Hitler, including a cigarette box, a decanter, a hair brush, a gravy boat and an ice bucket had been denounced by Jewish groups.
The cigarette box sold for $29,000 and the hairbrush for $19,000. A tableware collection sold for $25,000.
The Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), an Australian Jewish advocacy organization, accused JB Military Antiques of “(trampling) on the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.”
The men attended the auction in order to see firsthand the items and find out what kind of people were buying them.
The 23-year old man, a grandson of a Holocaust survivor, told the Australian Jewish News that he sought to “understand what type of people would bid on an item like that.”
"The fact that a cigar box sold for $29,000 purely because it belonged to a man that tried to wipe out an entire race is an absolutely disgusting idea,” he said.
The auction company in response accused the men of failing to properly register for the auction.
“If the two gentleman had simply registered to bid, as our auction house rules clearly state, a simple request which all people attending must do, they could have stayed and watched the proceedings without fear or favor,” JB Military Antques owner Jamey Blewitt said.
However, the Jewish man stated that he and his father were told by an employee that they did not need to register, and that they would have upon being informed but were kicked out and not given a chance.
Blewitt accused the men of refusing to leave but the Jewish man said that never occurred.
Blewitt told the Australian Jewish News that he will continue to sell Nazi items in the future, claiming they were simply “sold as historical artifacts in their nature… as opposed to… wanting to glorify or promote Nazism or the ideals and beliefs of Adolf Hitler.”