Auction of £36k Hitler bodyguard medal sparks call for ban on Nazi artefact sales
THE CHIEF executive of a leading Holocaust charity has repeated a call for the government to consider legislation prohibiting the sale of Nazi memorabilia after a UK auction house sold a Third Reich artefact for tens of thousands of pounds last Friday.
Karen Pollock, CEO of the Holocaust Educational Trust, described the sale of a Blutorden (“Blood Order”) Medal by Hanson’s auctioneers in Derby as “not appropriate”, saying that it might be “time for clearer regulation”.
The medal, which was awarded to Ulrich Graf, a Nazi who served as a bodyguard to Hitler, was included as a lot in Hansons’ “Militaria” auction on July 26. Despite its asking price of between £3,500-£4,000, it sold for around ten times the price, at £36,500.
Adrian Stevenson, an expert for the auctioneers, told the Telegraph that the sale was “a world-record price for a medal of its type — a phenomenal result”, describing it as “a remarkable historical piece with a huge story to tell.”
The medal was presented to Graf in 1933, months after the Nazis took power, to commemorate a decade since the Nazis’ failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch.
In the middle of the failed coup attempt, an altercation between Nazi paramilitary units and armed police led to shots being fired, killing 16 Nazis and four policemen. Graf, an amateur wrestler, had shielded Hitler with his own body, taking five bullets.
Having served in the SA, Graf would go on to serve in the SS. In 1948 he was sentenced to five years hard labour. He died in 1950, with his family selling all his belongings later that decade, having no desire to keep anything associated with the Nazis.
Mr Stevenson described the seller to the Telegraph as “a British doctor who had a large collection of German Third Reich medals”.
He said that some countries had banned the sale of such items but he thought “that does a disservice to the victims of the Nazis, it is almost like sweeping it under the carpet”.
Ms Pollock, however, said that it had long been HET’s view that, “it is not appropriate for items like this to be on the market for personal profit or macabre interest”, saying that such items should rather be “placed in archives, museums or in an educational context.
“Several leading auction houses and online sites already rightly refuse to sell Graf, who worked directly for Hitler, and his medal, sold last week
These items should be placed in archives’
such material and many countries have banned the sale of Nazi memorabilia. Perhaps it is time for clearer regulation on the sale of these items in the UK. ”
Hansons told the Telegraph that while they respected Ms Pollock’s view, “we also fully respect the historical importance of the objects we sell”.