Nazi Items Remain at Yahoo! Auctions

Looking for a copy of “Mein Kampf”? A silver swastika-marked coin, perhaps?
How about a Third-Reich Nazi-era porcelain plate? You can find these and about 330-plus other Nazi-related items for at auction on Yahoo!

Although Yahoo! has held fast to its January 3 promise to ban “hate”
materials from its auction site, it is continuing to auction some
Nazi-related items.

Items that continue to be auctioned include government-issued coins and stamps, noted Nancy Gallinghouse, a spokesperson for Yahoo! “We also continue to auction anti-hate material and some books, such as ‘Mein Kempf,’ as educational resources,” she said.

“We realize that enforcing the ban — which covers items that promote or glorify Nazis, the Klu Klux
Klan and other hate groups — is not foolproof,” she added. “So we have software in place as well as a team of people who review the materials put up for auction.”

The online ban officially has been in place since January 10. Gallinghouse estimates that the number of “questionable” items taken off the auction site, to date, is “in the low thousands.”

The Anti-Defamation League is satisfied with the site’s current status. “We have been monitoring the site and found that there are not many, if any, objectionable items for auction,” observed Jordan Kessler, senior
researcher for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “We are not seeing daggers or
flags or propaganda.

“We are seeing stamps and coins, which are items sought by legitimate
collectors,” he added. “We are happy that Yahoo! has elected to not make a
profit on items that we deem offensive.”

Items that were under attack by such groups as the ADL and the Simon
Wiesenthal Center included swastika T-shirts, Klu Klux Klan robes and a
print of a watercolor painted by Adolf Hitler.

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