Industry publication Auction News describes the items – titled “The Earnest Beaumont collection of Third Reich memorabilia” – as “a remarkable private collection of WWII-era German badges, decorations, plaques, and personal items”.
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The Board of Deputies of British Jews wrote to the Gilbert Baitson this week urging the auction house to withdraw the lots, as other houses have done with similar sales.
Andrew Gilbert, vice president of the Board, said there is "no good reason” for people to be bidding on the Nazi items.
"We strongly urge Gilbert Baitson to withdraw these items from auction, as have other auction houses such as McTear's, Bloomfield Auctions, and Vermot de Pas,” Gilbert said.
McTear’s auction house in Glasgow pledged in February to stop selling Nazi artefacts, while in 2019, Belfast’s Bloomfield Auctions cancelled a planned sale of Nazi memorabilia.
“The buying and selling of these items has no place in our society and, in the context of rising far-right antisemitism, is sinister and deeply concerning,” Gilbert said.
Selling Nazi memorabilia is not illegal in the UK; Gilbert said the Board would ask the government “to ban the sale of such items entirely”, joining countries including Germany, Austria, Israel and China. Large auction houses in the UK such as Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams refuse to sell items connected to Nazi Germany.
On its website, Gilbert Baitson claims to have previously auctioned the spectacles of Heinrich Himmler, the SS chief and a key architect of the Holocaust.
Gilbert Baitson said that although it “in no way condones the beliefs, ideology, or crimes of the Nazi regime,” it would proceed with the auction as planned.
It has added an “legal and ethical notice” note to its website, which states: “We respectfully present this collection of historical artifacts strictly for educational, documentary, and scholarly purposes.
"These items are offered as part of a catalogue of militaria that reflects a difficult period in global history. They are not intended to promote or glorify any ideologies associated with the regime under which they were produced.”
Iconography bearing symbols of the Third Reich such as swastikas are included in auction lots “solely for historical accuracy and collector interest, and they are to be viewed and handled in a responsible manner”, it adds.
Speaking on behalf of the auction house, Andrew Baitson said the items form part of a “wider collection of historical militaria.”
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“We respect the views expressed by the Board,” he said, “but as an auction house, our role is to catalogue and present such artefacts to collectors, museums, researchers, and historians.
"However difficult some of these objects may be, we believe that their preservation and circulation is an important part of documenting and understanding history.”
He claimed that to “conceal or suppress” the items risked "diminishing the tangible evidence” of the past.
Baitson insisted that most buyers are “curators, historians, or educators” acquiring the objects for study or display “in ways that place them in their proper historical context.”
“These objects can help ensure that the atrocities of that period are remembered and that future generations can continue to learn from them,” he said.
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The auctioneer added: “We urge all buyers to approach this material with respect and understanding of its historical context. We do not condone or accept any form of hate speech, extremism, or historical revisionism.”
