Germany Cancels Auction of Holocaust Artifacts After Backlash; 87th Kristallnacht Anniv. Nov. 9, 1938 [View all]

AP News, Updated 11:43 AM EST, Nov. 16, 2025

BERLIN (AP) — Poland’s foreign minister said Sunday that an “offensive” auction of Holocaust artifacts has been canceled in Germany, relaying information from his German counterpart, following complaints from Holocaust survivors. Radoslaw Sikorski made the comments on the X platform, saying he and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul “agreed that such a scandal must be prevented.”

The top Polish diplomat thanked Wadephul for the information that the auction, titled 'The System of Terror' was canceled.

Earlier, a Holocaust survivors group called on the German auction house Felzmann to cancel Monday’s sale of hundreds of Holocaust artifacts, including letters written by prisoners and other documents that identify many people by name.

A listing of information about the auction on the Auktionhaus Felzmann website on Sunday morning was no longer on the site by mid-afternoon. The house did not immediately respond to calls, an email and a text message on Sunday.

The collection of over 600 lots at auction in western Neuss, near Düsseldorf, included letters written by prisoners from German concentration camps to loved ones at home, Gestapo index cards and other perpetrator documents, the German news agency dpa reported. The auction was titled “The System of Terror.” ---
https://apnews.com/article/holocaust-auschwitz-auction-felzmann-germany-9f127f2235ca000b62aa566c9cc35059
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- Israeli survivors of Kristallnacht mark 87th anniversary of Nazi riots amid rising antisemitism, AP News, Nov. 9, 2025.
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Walter Bingham was 14 years old when Nazis plundered Jewish businesses and places of worship across Germany and Austria in what became known as Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass.”

Bingham is among a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors marking the 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht Sunday, at a time when antisemitism is on the rise, especially in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Nov. 9, 1938, attack was a stark turning point in the escalating persecution that led to the killing of 6 million European Jews by the Nazis and their supporters during the Holocaust...
https://apnews.com/article/israel-holocaust-germany-kristallnacht-anniversary-survivors-nazis-8c9727af30c8cef04759960ad15a1779