The watch was made by the Swiss LeCoultre, features the initials of the Nazi leader, the swastika and the regime’s eagle logo.
More than a million dollars for a watch that belonged to Adolf Hitler was the price at which an anonymous buyer won at an auction in Maryland, United States.
The gold watch has a reversible case, an engraved eagle and also a swastika.
They did not fail the protests of Jewish associations who criticized the auction even before the relic was sold to Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland.
However, the auction house, which has sold other Nazi items in the past, explained to the German media that its purpose was to preserve history and that most of the items sold are kept in private collections or donated to Holocaust museums.
Although it was expected to sell for around $ 3.6 million, it only reached $ 1.1 million.
Allegedly, the Nazi party gave Hitler the watch in 1933, the year of his rise to power in Germany. Recovered on May 4, 1945 by the French soldier Robert Mignot in Hitler’s former alpine residence in Berchtesgaden, just four days after the dictator’s suicide, it remained in the hands of the soldier’s family for decades.
Made by luxury Swiss watchmaker LeCoultre, the watch features the Nazi leader’s initials, the swastika and the regime’s infamous eagle logo.
It also has three dates: Hitler’s birthday, the date he was appointed chancellor of Germany, and the date of the Nazi party’s election victory in 1933.
Although it was expected to sell for around $ 3.6 million, it only reached $ 1.1 million. Bill Panagopulos, president of the auction house, claimed that a Hitler watch had never been publicly offered before.
“The watch was given to Hitler probably in 1933 after he was appointed chancellor of Germany and essentially gained full authority over all aspects of the country’s administration,” Panagopulos said.
Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun at the Berghof in 1942.
the questions
But Jewish associations harshly criticized the auction. In an open letter signed by 34 Jewish leaders, he described the sale as “repugnant” and demanded that the Nazi items be removed from the auction.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, president of the European Jewish Association, said the transaction gave “relief to those who idealize what the Nazi party stood for,” the newspaper reported. Mirror.
He wrote: “While it is obvious that the lessons of history must be learned and that legitimate Nazi artifacts belong to museums or places of higher education, the items you are selling are clearly not.
Framing Sergeant Robert Mignot and his companions at Hitler’s Berghof in 1945.
The auction house owner stressed that the offer was not meant to glorify the Nazi dictator. “We are not offering this in homage to the worst man who ever lived.”She said.
“Instead, it is an incredibly rare historical relic, deeply evocative of one of the darkest periods in world history, and therefore particularly important.”
Sources: ANSA and Mirror
Source: Clarin
