ADC chair in stoush with auction house

A DISPUTE between the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) and organisers of a large auction of Nazi military memorabilia has escalated after the auctioneers re-posted a media report on Facebook, adding a photo of Adolf Hitler adjacent to one of ADC chair Dvir Abramovich.

Condemning Perth’s JB Military Antiques for planning the October 18 auction of German World War II military memorabilia, Abramovich had described such an auction as “grisly and twisted”.

At the time of going to press, Jamey Blewitt, owner and auctioneer of JB Military Antiques, had not responded to The AJN about why he juxtaposed Abramovich’s photo, used in a related story in The Australian, with one of Hitler. 

However, in another Facebook post, Blewitt described the ADC’s opinions as “one-sided” and said Abramovich “has never contacted us” to discuss sales of Nazi memorabilia.

Blewitt, a former high school teacher who taught about the evils of Nazism and visited Auschwitz four times, stated only that his views have not changed since comments he made in an earlier story in The AJN.

In 2016, after Abramovich called for the sale of Nazi memorabilia to be regulated, Blewitt had stated, “We do not condone racial intolerance, nor do we glorify it with the sale of Third Reich items … we display items with a clear warning of our intents and non-allegiance in any fashion to the idiots in the community that promote ludicrous ideas of Holocaust denial and Jew haters to put it simply.”

The items to be auctioned this month include grenades, knives, flags, banners, uniforms and other Nazi memorabilia, as well as two editions of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Blewitt said some German World War II items had fetched as much as $20,000.

Abramovich described the upcoming auction as “a kick in the stomach of the survivors who have suffered enough”. 

“If Hitler was alive today, he would be applauding JB Military Antiques for offering the instruments of his monstrous crimes for sale.”

Abramovich expressed concern the materials could end up with “Third Reich worshippers who will proudly display them in their homes and will use them to recruit new members”.

“The dramatic surge in antisemitism in our nation, and the shootings at Christchurch, Pittsburgh and San Diego, committed by far-right racists, who were inspired by the ideologies represented by these very objects, should provoke some very serious soul-searching,” he added.

The ADC chair later described the posting of the Hitler photograph next to his own as “giving their followers the space and excuse to spew vitriol against me. Already, several users, emboldened by this post, have compared me to Hitler”.

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