The son of a Holocaust survivor is speaking out after learning of an upcoming auction of Nazi memorabilia taking place in Ireland.
Mullen”s auction house in Bray, Ireland, around 12 miles south of Dublin, is set to sell by auction on March 11 over 400 Nazi-linked items, including a statue of Adolf Hitler in uniform, a Hitler plaque, and a cast iron state of Hitler giving a salute built into a money box, the Irish Times reported.
The auction will also feature uniforms from the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls, a Nazi party rally armband and Nazi badges.
While it is illegal to sell Nazi memorabilia in multiple EU countries, that is not the case in Ireland or the UK.
Oliver Sears, the founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, whose 86-year-old mother is a Holocaust survivor, denounced the auction as “without taste or moral compass.” He urged the auction house to instead donate the items to a museum.
“There is no understanding of history, there is nothing of the hurt it causes people of my generation,” Sears told the Times. “There is no understanding of how these symbols are recycled and used by a growing far-right element. The idea that these are collectors” items is beyond me.”

Mullen’s auctioneer Stuart Purcell defended the sale. The items came from two deceased Irish collectors, he told the news outlet.
“It”s historical memorabilia,” Purcell said. “Some people believe all this stuff belongs in a museum, but I don”t know any collection of Nazi memorabilia in Ireland or of anything related to the rise of fascism in Europe.”