Nazi hate on sale in Queensland

A VIRULENTLY antisemitic children’s book, a signed photo of Hitler, the sunglasses worn by Goering at the Nuremberg trials and letters written by Himmler as a child.

Just some of the items going under the hammer at a Queensland auction house next week which one AJN reader described as “an atrocity” adding, “As a practising Jew, I find it abhorrent.”

The sale next Wednesday is being carried out by Danielle Elizabeth Auctions, who made headlines in January when Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk condemned their sale of a Nazi flag. They were also slammed in August for auctioning a selection of Third Reich memorabilia including a Star of David armband worn during the Holocaust.

According to the Danielle Elizabeth website, the book being sold – Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud auf seinem Eid or Trust No Fox on his Green Heath and No Jew on his Oath – is “one of the most contentious pieces of propaganda in modern history” and “teaches children, according to the Nazi Party in Germany, what a Jew is and what they look like”.

Defending the sale, managing director of Danielle Elizabeth Auctions, Dustin Sweeny told The AJN it was not illegal and “certainly not antisemitic”.

“We sell history and historical artefacts that tell a story that the world should never stop telling so history does not repeat itself,” he insisted.

Claiming he received more than 100 death threats, some from the Jewish community, ahead of the August auction, and that his wife and children were also threatened, he said, “The hypocrisy is astounding. If the Jewish community wish to enact change they need to lobby parliament to make these items illegal, not attack an honest small business operating legally.

“Remember we live in a free democracy, and as much as you believe these items should not be sold, we believe they should, and everyone should respect everyone else’s right to a different opinion.”

But Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies president Jason Steinberg told The AJN such items need to be taken off the market and the Queensland government’s hate crime review should ensure any future auctions are not possible.

“We are calling on the government to ban the display of Nazi symbols and here we see this vile memorabilia again in the public domain. We know that sometimes these items are purchased to glorify Nazis and used to recruit right-wing extremists.”

He added, “We have Holocaust survivors still living on the Gold Coast who recognise these items being auctioned for what they really are – pure hate and evil. Enough is enough. They need to be removed from sale and given to a museum to educate the next generation about the lessons of the Holocaust.”