Ebay's Trade In Holocaust Memorabilia.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2485251/Ebays-sick-trade-Holocaust-souvenirs-Outrage-auctions-Death-Camp-relics.html

Many on this site rightly or wrongly criticise the Daily Mail, but surely everyone should now congratulate the Sunday Mail on their investigation into this vile trade of Holocaust memorabilia ?

/// t was one of dozens of offensive items uncovered by a Mail on Sunday investigation. And within hours of being alerted to the item by this newspaper, eBay removed it from sale after conducting an ‘urgent investigation’. ///

[jim360]

Not all Jews think the same as each other. Indeed not all any group thinks the same way. I'd tend to agree with the relevant Rabbi, to a point, but I think his criticism would be better directed at the sellers than ebay.

[anotheoldgit]

jim360

Yes but surely one has an item they wish to rid themselves of, and if that item happens to be banned from being sold in certain countries and also deemed offensive, but there is a large profit making organisation who is prepared to sell it for you at a cost, now who is most to blame?

[jno]

aog, no, it's not necessarily difficult to track down an eBay seller. Tracking down traders who are not on eBay will be trickier, and I'll be interested to see if they're prepared to continue investigating. I'm also talking about buyers as well as sellers, though the former may have worthy reasons for purchase.

Incidentally, the Daily Mail is not the Mail on Sunday. It was the Mail on Sunday's editor who offered an apology over his paper's actions re Ralph Miliband. It's a mistake to assume they're exactly the same.

[jno]

eBay is a market place, not a trader. It does not profit from Holocaust memorabilia, it profits from giving other people a stall to sell their own possessions. They are of course at liberty to ban any products from sale in their market place and have now done so; perhaps they should have inspected the relevant stalls earlier. But they are not a shop like Amazon and aren't selling these things themselves.

[sandyRoe]

"The seller, Viktor Kempf, a Ukranian now living in Vancouver, Canada, "
Surely he wouldn't have been stupid enough to have taken them as a souvenir of his time guarding a camp?

[naomi24]

//And within hours of being alerted to the item by this newspaper, eBay removed it from sale after conducting an ‘urgent investigation’. //

Well done both.

[FredPuli43]

AOG, Simon Wiesenthal does not speak for all Jews. He may find it flat out disgusting, and no Jew finds what these articles represent as anything other than disgusting. And that is why Jews would buy them; it is 'lest we forget'. Are you telling us that that does not and will not happen ? There is logic to it.

[FredPuli43]

^That should read "They may find" not "He may find"! I think Wiesenthal himself is dead, but his organisation lives on. ^

[DrFilth]

people collect strange things always have and always will

[Kromovaracun]

Yes, this is a genuine achievement for the Mail on Sunday, and the person responsible for stopping these individuals deserves be congratulated.

It does not, however, change my opinion of the DM's trustworthiness, or its negative impact on public life in Britain.

[Hypognosis]

Yes, AOG, credit where credit is due.

How on earth did he get these things through Canadian customs? Or are they fakes, being manufactured within Canada/US etc?

[FredPuli43]

Well done the Daily Mail. They have shamed an agency into not advertising what it is perfectly legitimate to sell. The provenance of the items is inevitably unpleasant but they remain of proper interest.

What will the Mail do when the same items are offered by an auction house?

[Hypognosis]

//What will the Mail do when the same items are offered by an auction house? //

Someone will have to detach from their computer and leave the building to actually research the story, shock, horror. Mileage, lunch, phone calls, expenses claim. Actual copies will have to be sold just to make the story break even. :-/

[Peter Pedant]

. erm I am surprised no one has pointed out - that the red triangle means Political Prisoner and I dont see why their uniforms should not be sold on.

While I am at it, the three prisoners in the black and white photo arent wearing stars of David - and I just wondered if their triangle were pink (homosexual) or green. One pink triangle is known to have survived by the way.

and finally the kid selling armbands - that has to be Warsaw doesnt it? as the only place with blue and white armbands.

altho I agree that if you google warsaw ghetto badges, quite a catch from eBay comes up

[FredPuli43]

Steve, what is to be done with us, and where do you "draw the line" if at all ?

I have a lot of Titanic stuff, including the last missive of a sailor who drowned. I have a letter by Haigh, the "acid bath murderer" in which he is covering up the fact that he has just murdered two people and dissolved their bodies in a vat of acid. Now, what is the provenance of those ? They are of interest, just as the holocaust stuff is.

[ummmm]

I agree with Fred. We can't change the past. Such a shocking event in history will always attract fascination.

[DrFilth]

wonder what would happen if the japanese sunday mail asked for items like this to be removed

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Enola-Gay-Crew-B-29-Bomber-PHOTO-Dropped-Atomic-Bomb-Little-Boy-Hiroshima-Japan-/321242289409?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item4acb885501

[jno]

a fari question, DrFilth