A watch believed to have belonged to Adolf Hitler was sold for $1.1 million to an anonymous bidder at an auction in the United States.
The Huber watch, dating from the of 1930, presents engravings of a swastika and the initials “AH”.
However, the auction has been labeled as “abominable” in an open letter signed by 34 Jewish leaders.
“This auction, whether unknowingly or not, is doing two things: one, helping those who idealize what the Nazi party stood for. Two: offer buyers the opportunity to excite a guest or loved one with an item that belongs to a genocidal killer and his followers,” said Rabbi Menachem Margolin, president of the European Jewish Association (EJA), based in Brussels.
However, Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland said its goal is to preserve history, according to the Evening Standard.
They added that most of their collectors kept the items in private collections or donated them to Holocaust museums around the world.
“If you destroy history, there is no evidence that it ever happened,” said Mindy Greenstein, senior vice president of Alexander Historical Auctions. “Whether history is good or bad, it must be preserved,” he added.
The catalog description of the watch says that it was given to the Nazi leader as a birthday present in 1933, the year he was appointed Chancellor of Germany.
He said that the watch was seized as “spoils of war” when some 30 French soldiers stormed Hitler’s Berghof refuge in the mountains of Bavaria.
Then it was resold and passed on from generation to generation.
Other items auctioned included Wehrmacht toilet paper, cutlery and champagne flutes belonging to prominent Nazi figures.
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