I'm currently in Jerusalem celebrating the birth of a grandson where I receive two emails from the headquarters of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, both related to the theft of an icon of evil -- the Arbeit Macht Frei sign from the Auschwitz Death Camp.
The first came from the Midwest:
Hello, my name is Dan I read about the theft of the sign an wanted to see if I could be part of an effort to make a replacement. My father fought against the SS and he was affected by it for his entire adult life until his passing on Dec. 13, 2003. He never had a good nights sleep after being in the Ardens during the "Battle of the BULGE". I am a Roman Catholic and am very saddened by the theft. I have fallen on extremely hard times, but I think I could rally some support to replace the sign in St. Louis if you think the original my not be recovered. Our family business is no longer, but we had an 83 year old steel fabrication plant. I have no treasure, but do have a desire to help. I may be able to recruit some people here to replace it if given the proper dimensions. I Don't know about transportation .etc. I know people in the St. Louis Mo. Jewish community who may want to help. . At your service Dan...
For sale is a sign in German meaning 'Work for Freedom' that dates back to the 1700s and was used in many Nazi Concentration camps. It was designed specifically from the sign over the main gate at Auschwitz. It measures about 7 feet long and is made from 1/4 round bar steel with 1/8 x 3/4 steel lettering...Gate is not included, just the actual lettering and boarder pictured.
To date there have been 7 bids, up to $142...
And eBay has also included these additional items in the auction: "Concentration Camp" armbands and various SS daggers among other hateful items.
2009 has been an especially painful year for the dwindling Holocaust survivor population and their families. They have watched in horror as Iran, a member state of the United Nations (founded 70 years ago to ensure the eternal demise of Nazism and everything it stood for) make Holocaust denial official state policy. There have been official Holocaust cartoon competitions and media interviews with "academic" experts. Worst of all, they see Iran's soon to be nuclearized, Holocaust-denying President Ahmadinejad, threatening Israel, the Jewish state born out of the ashes of the Holocaust.
Whatever the motivations of the five thieves who stole and sliced up the Auschwitz sign, their actions reflects the growing sense of dread for the survivors, that as their generation leaves the stage of history, their suffering and their loved ones' martyrdom is being debased, manipulated, and desecrated. "It's like they are murdering my family again" is the sigh I have heard from too many survivors.
Which brings us to the Internet. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has been monitoring digital hate for over a decade. There was one hate site in 1995. Today, well over 10,000. The Internet, it turns out is also tailor-made for big lie conspiracy theories from denial of the Holocaust to 9/11 as an American plot. Taking advantage of our First Amendment, many overseas extremist and pro-terrorist groups post on US servers, seeking to wrap their hate around the flag of Freedom of Speech.
But eBay is not about Speech, but about commerce. And if anyone has any lingering doubts of the unparalleled marketing power of the Internet, just look at the Nov 1- Dec 23rd, 2008 figure: $25.5 billion online -- in a bad economic year!
Without a doubt, eBay occupies prime virtual real estate in our digital malls. Out in the real world, malls do not allow the KKK and neo-Nazis to rent space and pedal hate. They can and should do a better job at being good online neighbors--inviting bigots and those seeking to cash in on the suffering of others to take their pushcarts elsewhere. We don't need new laws, debates or lawsuits, but the application of common sense and Menschlichkeit. The Jerusalem Post reports that ..."there are no restrictions regarding facsimile signs from concentration camps listed under "offensive material policy" on eBay, but there are restrictions regarding other Nazi memorabilia including films, toys and most products containing a swastika."
So how about it eBay: This Christmas send a clear message who you stand with: The victims of genocide or those who would like to see Hitler's vision fulfilled.
UPDATE:December 28th...It appears that the auction was canceled on Friday...Looks like someone did the right thing
Follow Rabbi Abraham Cooper on Twitter: www.twitter.com/simonwiesenthal
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E-Bay need not concern itself unduly.
iTunes, Amazon, Lala, and others freely sell tracks from neo-Nazi and racist bands--thi
Let your favorite music purveyors know that they should eliminate the hate music or donate their profits to activist organizati
It took me 45 seconds to find this on eBay's official site:
PROHIBITED FOR SALE ON eBay:
"offensive material – examples include ethnically or racially offensive material and Nazi memorabili
All one need do is REPORT IT and FLAG IT and it will be removed.
Just how do you propose checking every single one? Even assuming all placements were brief, it would require a full-time workforce of several thousand employees.
Which the company cannot afford to hire and remain in business.
Which is why much of the online activity has to be SELF-REGUL
I see no problem with offenders being flagged and barred for life. Maybe 1 in 1000 will slip through the cracks, but one does not dismantle an entire industry because 100% of offensive auctions are not prevented.
But I do understand your point.
I understand why Jews focus on the deaths of Jews in what was a Jewish Holocaust, but the Holocaust of the Others should not be ignored, forgotten, or dismissed by anyone, including Jews.
All of those signs and artifacts had as much to do with the non-Jewish victims of the Nazi's as with the Jewish victims.
It’s time that the world wakes up to the reality of the Holocaust in whole, not just in relation to Jews and start memorializ
Rabbi Cooper: The Holocaust is not about Israel, Iran, nuclear weapons, or any of the political issues you raise to associate with it. I call on you to denounce the whole Holocaust—
History demonstrat
Unfortunat
I find eBay useful as a buyer (caveat emptor!) but very hostile as a seller. I tried to sell some things, and they nickel and dime you so much ($1 per photo, 35 cents for a listing, etc) that you cannot make money. The paypal fees for sellers are also quite high. So I gave up. There is another problem with eBay: it's a pretty friendly platform for the sale of stolen goods and pirated software and other media. I've bought software there but am quite aware that if it's not in the box, it's probably cracked. However, the same is true for other online auctions, flea markets, classified
and shame on you.
"Exodus 1947 was a ship that carried Jewish emigrants, that left France on July 11, 1947, with the intent of taking its passengers to Palestine, now known as Israel, then controlled by the British. Most of the emigrants were Holocaust survivor refugees, who had no legal immigratio
It fall along the quote about not agree with what another says but willing to fight to the death for your right to say it.
Aside from the sign, like it or not, how is it against the law to seel a military knife? or other materail used from a military in WW II ? Would the same be said for the same item if used by the Japanese?
Its dicey but in order to protect the greater good along with insuring fascist regimes do not take root again, the less reestricti
Great company...
I thought, finally a rabbi is going to say something about the current genocide going on in the mid east.
2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jeremiah 10:2-4
I No longer shop EBAY.
2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Jeremiah 10:2-4
I am kind of surprised that eBay now allows this type of memorabili
In fact, I had a book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1923, on sale and it was removed because there was a "swastika" imprint on the title page. It is my understand
I would never do anything to glorify such a regime. My dad almost died in WWII.
What is the answer? I don't know. I believe in freedom of speech, though I may despise the "speech" or speaker.
The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix. Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.
Even in the early twentieth century, the swastika was still a symbol with positive connotatio
In the 1800s, countries around Germany were growing much larger, forming empires; yet Germany was not a unified country until 1871. To counter the feeling of vulnerabil
As for eBay. The free market is a double edged sword. They have their policies, but within the rules they set its a free for all.