A Tel Aviv auction house has once again caused a public outcry over its planned sale of Nazi memorabilia.
Knesset Speaker Shevach Weiss and Chief ashkenazi Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau denounced the plans of Menashe Maridek, owner of Zodiac Stamps, to sell items from the Nazi era.
Israel Radio reported that emblems and insignia worn by the Nazi SS appeared in Zodia Stamps’ catalogue for a public sale scheduled to take place next month.
Five months ago, the auction house caused a stir over its plans to sell artifacts from the Nazi death camps, including a bar of soap allegedly made from human fat.
The sale was canceled in the wake of public pressure.
Avner Shalev, the director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, said the planned sale violated an understanding reached after the previous incident, in which Maridek said he would not do it again.
“He actually proclaimed that last time that he understands the sensitivity of the public,” Shalev told Israel Radio. “To sell here, in Tel Aviv, those kinds of matters or emblems of the SS is to go too far.”
Maridek was unavailable for comment.
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