For the full article, complete with video and audio files, please visit: ABC News
Nazi artefacts don't belong in a Holocaust museum, Sydney Jewish Museum historian says
By David Coady
A prominent Holocaust researcher says he opposes a plan for dozens of newly discovered Nazi artefacts to be donated to a Holocaust museum because "one should not pay too much attention to [what] the perpetrators produced".
Key points:
- Items could be proof that high-ranking Nazis escaped to Argentina after WWII
- Sydney Jewish Museum has a rule to not display Nazi artefacts
- In 1945 it became illegal to display Nazi writings, symbols and artefacts in Germany
Around 75 objects, which authorities suspect are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II, were found in a collector's home in Buenos Aires.
The artefacts include a bust relief of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas and even a macabre medical device used to measure head size.
Argentina's Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich, said the items would be donated to a Holocaust museum in Buenos Aires "to remember what happened, remember what the Holocaust was".
She also wanted to make sure the items were removed from sale and from the galleries of collectors.
But Konrad Kwiet, resident historian at the Sydney Jewish Museum, said he opposed the plan.
"We, at the Sydney Jewish Museum, have an internal [regulation] that we do not display Nazi artefacts," he said.
"They should go to another museum, but not to a Jewish Holocaust museum."
Professor Kwiet was formerly the chief historian of the Australian War Crimes Commission.
He admitted there was no consensus on where Nazi artefacts should be displayed, but said: "One should not pay too much attention to [what] the perpetrators [of the Holocaust] produced or displayed."
Professor Kwiet said it was illegal to display many of the objects in Germany.
"Since 1945, thanks to an allied regulation, all Nazi writings, Nazi symbols, artefacts have been declared illegal and they are banned," he said.
'Irrefutable proof' Nazis escaped to Argentina
South America became a refuge of senior Nazis after World War II, and about 5,000 Nazis or sympathisers made it to Argentina.
It had the highest number of arrivals, followed by Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Ecuador.
"That had partly something to do that in all these countries were large German communities, often very anti-sematic, anti-Jewish and very pro-Nazi," Professor Kwiet said.
The president of the Delegation of Argentine Jewish Organisations, Ariel Cohen, said some of the leading Nazis who ended up in Argentina included notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and key Holocaust organiser, Adolf Eichmann.
"I think it is the irrefutable proof of the… presence of [senior] Nazis having escaped to Argentina," he said.
"And [they were found] just about in the same area where Josef Mengele lived, where Eichmann lived — in the area of Beccar [a suburb north of Buenos Aires]."
'They were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer'
The investigation that culminated in the discovery of the collection began when authorities found artworks of illicit origin in a gallery in north Buenos Aires.
Agents with the international police force Interpol began following the collector, and with a judicial order raided the house on June 8.
AUDIO: Listen to David Coady's story on The World Today(The World Today)
Inside the house, a large bookshelf caught their attention and behind it agents found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi imagery.
There were toys that would have been used to indoctrinate children and a large statue of the Nazi eagle.
Investigators believe a magnifying glass in the collection was used by Hitler.
"Our first investigations indicate these are original pieces, they were [found] with original photographs that prove this… showing they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer," Ms Bullrich said.
The collection was revealed after Interpol agents began following an art collector.
That person remains free, but is under investigation by a federal judge.
For the full article, complete with video and audio files, please visit: ABC News
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