Lebanese businessman settled in Switzerland decides to offer Israeli foundation a top hat and other objects that belonged to Adolf Hitler won at a controversial auction in Munich, southern Germany ).
Abdallah Chatila, who made his fortune in diamonds and real estate in Geneva, told the weekly Le Matin Dimanche that he had "wanted to buy these objects so that they would not be used for neo-Nazi propaganda purposes. My approach is totally apolitical and neutral ".
The businessman paid about 545,000 euros
At the auction held on Wednesday by the German auction house Hermann Historica, the businessman has paid about 545,000 euros to acquire 10 lots, including a top hat worn by Hitler, his cigar box, his machine. write, as well as a luxury edition of his book "Mein Kampf" struck with an eagle and a swastika, which belonged to the Nazi leader Hermann Goering.
"Far-right populism and anti-Semitism are spreading all over Europe and the world, I did not want these objects to fall into the wrong hands and to be used by people with dishonest intentions", he told the Swiss weekly.
Born in Beirut in 1974 to a family of Christian jewelers, Abdallah Chatila is one of Switzerland's 300 richest fortunes. According to him, "these relics should be burned", but "historians think that they must be kept for the collective memory". He claimed to have made contact with the Keren Hayesod Association, which is acting "for the construction and development of the State of Israel". "I'm going to give them those objects (...) that should be exhibited in a museum."
An outcry in Germany
The auction sparked an uproar in Germany, particularly in the Jewish community. The president of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, recalled that Germany was "in the forefront in Europe with regard to the number of reported antisemitic incidents".
The association "calls on the German authorities to force the auction houses to disclose the names of the buyers", which "could then be listed on a government list of people to watch," Menachem Margolin added.