Auschwitz tattoo stamp auction suspended by Israeli court

A court in Israel has frozen the auction of tattoo stamps used by Nazis to brand numbers on the arms of inmates at Auschwitz in response to a lawsuit filed by a Holocaust survivor group.

The head of Israel’s Holocaust memorial has criticised plans by a Jerusalem auctioneer to sell tools used to tattoo inmates at the Auschwitz death camp. The set of stamps made from needles is “the most shocking Holocaust item”.

Profiteering from items used to dehumanize prisoners at Auschwitz marks a new low point in the trade of Holocaust memorabilia. That the auction is happening on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, in Jerusalem, is beyond words.

What people are saying?

jean-paul Marthoz Outrage at auction sale of tatoo stamps. “Prisoners were originally tattooed with stamps consisting of interchangeable needles arranged in the shape of numbers, which were punched onto inmates’ skin and ink rubbed into the wound”.

Ali Zartash-Lloyd  The head of Israel’s Holocaust memorial has criticised plans by a Jerusalem auctioneer to sell tools used to tattoo inmates at the Auschwitz death camp. The lot consists of 14 stamps and an instruction booklet from the manufacturer, Aesculap.