Controversial auction in the US: Hitler’s watch fetches 1.1 million dollars | Abroad

According to the auction house, Hitler received the reversible gold watch, made by Andreas Huber, on April 20, 1933, on his 44th birthday. It bears the initials AH, a swastika and a Nazi eagle emblem, as well as two dates: April 20, 1889, Hitler’s birthday, and January 30, 1933, the day he became Chancellor of Germany.

A French soldier confiscated the watch as spoils of war in May 1945, when his unit became the first Allied force to arrive at Hitler’s country house in Berchtesgaden, southern Germany.

Jewish organizations had objected to the sale by letter, calling it “appalling.” The sale “to the highest bidder, on the open market, is an indictment of our society,” wrote Rabbi Menachem Margolin, president of the European Jewish Association, who said “the memory, suffering and pain of others are ignored for financial reasons.” gain”. The watch would also have “little to no historical value”.

The director of the auction house, Bill Panagopulos, defended the sale. “Many people donate Nazi artifacts to museums and institutions,” he told The Washington Post. “Others need the money, or just choose to sell. That’s not our decision.” Panagopulos did not want to disclose the buyer’s name, but said it was a “European Jew”.

It was not the first time that the auction house has come under fire for controversial sales. In 2011, Alexander Historical Auctions sold the diaries of Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who tortured Auschwitz inmates by subjecting them to medical experiments.

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