The medal was presented to Graf in 1933, months after the Nazis took power in Germany, 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 sixteen 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 of 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, including France, had banned the sale of such items, but said 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 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 here in the UK. ”
A spokesperson for Hansons told the Telegraph that while they respected Ms Pollock’s view, “we also fully respect the historical importance of the objects we sell.
“It's impossible to ignore history or brush away the past. This item was sold purely as an historical object.”
