A wristwatch formerly owned by Adolf Hitler was sold at auction for US$1.1 million in Maryland. The value was assessed between USD $2 and USD $4 million by Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City. According to news outlets, Jewish leaders and others opposed the auction this week, claiming that it had very little to certainly no historical significance. A swastika and the letters AH are engraved on the watch. It was bought by a European Jew.
The auction house described the watch as a “World War II relic of historic proportions.” Other items that had belonged to Hitler were sold at the auction in addition to the watch. These items include the clothing of Eva Braun, Hitler’s wife. A hand-signed photos of Nazi leaders, and a yellow cloth Star of David with the word “Jude,” which is German for “Jew.” The Nazis ordered Jews to don the yellow identifiers as armbands or badges during the Holocaust with the goal of isolating and persecuting them.
Wristwatch belonging to Adolf Hitler
The auction was referred to as “abominable” in an open letter signed by 34 Jewish leaders. The removal of other Nazi artefacts from the auction was another demand made by them. “Whilst it is obvious that the lessons of history need to be learned. And legitimate Nazi artefacts do belong in museums or places of higher learning – the items that you are selling clearly do not,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association wrote.
Moreover, members of the National Socialist Workers Party of Germany gifted Hitler the watch on April 20, 1933. It was his 44th birthday. The watch was discovered on May 4 by a French soldier at Hitler’s former Alpine home in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria. It was spotted just four days after the suicide of the Nazi leader.
