Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own.
Relics of the past keep history alive and serve as a reminder of events — both good and bad — that have shaped the modern world. One artifact that has been under intense scrutiny this month is Adolf Hitler’s telephone, which was auctioned off earlier this week in Maryland. Engraved with his name, an eagle and a swastika, Hitler’s bright red phone was the vessel through which he ordered the deaths of millions of innocent people. The phone was a war trophy for Ralph Rayner, a late British officer who visited Hitler’s bunker after the Allies’ victory. Along with the telephone, Rayner smuggled a porcelain figurine of a dog made by slaves in a concentration camp. Although the British officer’s son, Ranulf Rayner, inherited the phone in the 1970s, an auction house sold both artifacts Sunday.
It is important for the world to never forget the atrocities that were committed during the Holocaust. Nevertheless, a public auction may cross a fine line between giving people access to Hitler’s relics for educational purposes and creating an opportunity to idolize his belongings. Before the auction, it was very plausible for alt-right groups to get ahold of the phone and treat it as “a relic of Hitler’s glory days,” Ranulf Rayner told CNN Feb. 1. To those who believe in the ideals embodied by the Nazis, Hitler’s phone could instantly serve as a connection between him and his modern-day followers. To sell the relics to people who would revere them would be a slap in the face to all those who have been devastated by the Holocaust.
Additionally, the auction’s location proved doubly offensive, given the fact that the United States did little to aid persecuted Jews preceding the war. Although President Roosevelt enacted some initiatives to provide temporary refuge in New York, the world “seemed to have no place” for displaced persons, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website. For instance, even though Congress increased immigration quotas after the war, the qualifications to enter the country were strict and “flagrantly discriminatory” toward Jews, the website stated. Out of the 202,000 displaced persons accepted into the country post-World War II, only 80,000 were Jewish; even though Congress amended immigration laws later on, most European Jews had already settled in Israel by that time.
Given the history of the United States’ apathy toward oppressed Jews during the war, it was inappropriate for Hitler’s phone to be accessible to a buyer who will potentially glorify it. Instead, the auction house should have allowed only museums to bid for the artifacts, excluding private collectors. If the phone and porcelain dog were solely available to museums, then these objects could have finally contributed to society. By residing in a place of learning, the relics would serve as an educational opportunity for future generations to understand the horrors of the Holocaust.
The objects that were auctioned are associated with an immense amount of suffering, and therefore should not have been accessible to those who could praise them as reminders of Hitler’s success. However, they should not be destroyed or hidden from the public, because the world must not forget about the atrocities of the Holocaust.
Asha Kodan is a freshman biology major. She can be reached at ashakodan@ymail.com.
