Sir, – I refer to "Irish auctioneer defends sale of Nazi memorabilia" (September 6th). First, our auctions do not include "Nazi memorabilia". Our "Eclectic Collector" auction of historical artefacts and ephemera, which took place last Saturday, comprised over 570 lots and included an important archive of items relating to the plebiscite in Austria (Anschluss) which was brought back by an Irish tourist in 1938, and eight lots of weapons, helmets and equipment issued to Wehrmacht (German army) and Luftwaffe (German air force) personnel in the second World War. Second, the allegation that we displayed "Nazi memorabilia" in our window is untrue. We have never displayed "Nazi memorabilia", or, for that matter, any German collectibles in our window, which is reserved for showing Irish paintings and sculpture, our core business.
For many decades we have included German collectibles relating to both World Wars in our auctions, but only in the context of the entire history of the 20th century. This does not imply that we, or the private and institutional collectors of these artefacts, condone genocide but instead they help preserve these reminders, for future generations, of a shameful chapter in humankind’s history. – Yours, etc,
IAN WHYTE,
Managing Director,
Whyte’s,
Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.