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From the pages of the Jewish News for
this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
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Bid Farewell
Detroit auction house yanks controversial items after protest from Jewish community.
ALAN ABRAMS
Special to the Jewish News
A
Detroit auction house that
had planned to auction two
Nazi-era items last week
responded quickly to con-
cerns of Jewish organizations and
clients by pulling the items from the
sale.
However, thousands of far more
inflammatory Nazi items, including
daggers, SS badges and videos
extolling Adolf Hitler, are available
for worldwide sale every day on eBay,
the Internet's top auction site, with-
out any protests.
The two items in Detroit, an arm-
band and a banner both carrying the
Nazi swastika, were to have been auc-
tioned on Jan. 13 by DuMouchelle
Art Galleries of Detroit. Both were
pictured in its January auction cata-
log.
But even before a story appeared in
the Detroit Free Press Jan. 11 about
the auction, Sharona Shapiro,
Michigan area director of the
American Jewish Committee, jumped
into action.
"I received a call from one of our
members that had reviewed the items
in the catalog," said Shapiro, who
declined to identify the member who
called.
Shapiro, whose office is in
Bloomfield Township, first called the
auction house and then wrote Ernest
and Lawrence DuMouchelle, two of
the three principals of the gallery.
Time To Rethink
In identically worded letters dated
Jan. 11, Shapiro told the
DuMouchelles that although the
gallery was free to conduct the auc-
tion, "I urge you to rethink this sale."
Citing the Web site Yahoo!'s recent
decision to bar all Nazi-related items
from its Internet auctions, Shapiro
told DuMouchelle: "Items such as the
armband with a swastika and the ban-
ner should be donated by its owners
to museums or educational institu-
tions. No profit should be made from
the selling of titillating items, espe-
cially from this horrific time period
in our world's history. It is my hope
that your firm will distance itself
from this activity and urge the items'
owners to rethink their actions as
well."
Shapiro's letter prompted an imme-
diate response that same day from
Lawrence DuMouchelle. In his letter
he said, "It was not our intention to
offend anyone by selling Nazi materi-
al. We were handling the contents of
the estate of a former World War II
veteran and did not mean to repre-
sent or condone any violent or racial
intolerant groups."
Continued DuMouchelle, "We
took the items in from a historical
standpoint and unfortunately failed
to recognize the emotional sensitivity
of our customers and others in our
community. The items have been
withdrawn from our sale."
In yet another letter later that day,
Shapiro thanked the DuMouchelles
for their "sensitive response."
Approach Varies
Typical of the thousands of Nazi-related items to be found on the eBay Internet
auction site every day is this postcard of a German officer giving the Nazi salute.
Listed by a dealer in Maine, it sold for $17.25 on Martin Luther King Day.
The auction house will reconsider
selling Nazi memorabilia at future
auctions. Major auction houses, such
as Sotheby's and Christie's. in New
York City, already ban such items,
although they can be regularly found
at military and gun shows.
A search last Sunday of eBay, the
online auction Web site, found more
than 3,600 Nazi items offered for
sale. Many of the items had multiple
bids, and there are no restrictions
upon their sale to minors.
Joan Walker, the third principal of
DuMouchelle's, told the Jewish News
that the auction house has sold items
relating to African American slavery
without protest. "We had a slave reg-
istry once, which I personally found
quite distasteful," said Walker. The
items were sold as historical items,
she said, with the majority of the
buyers being African American. 0
Dr. Sheldon Brenner of West
Bloomfield was appointed chief of
staff of Children's Hospital of
Michigan in Detroit.
Sheldon Rich of Southfield was
recognized as Michigan's 1990
recipient of the Distinguished
Young Pharmacist Award sponsored
by Marion Merrill Dow Inc.
Two historic events took place in
the Arctic city of Yellowknife in
Canada's Northwest Territories: a
minyan and a circumcision.
A street in the capital of the
province of Rio Grande, Brazil, has
been named Rua Golda Meir.
Southfield attorney Michael Stein
was named chairman. for Israel's
33rd anniversary celebration.
Maurice Rosen, a California business-
man, circled the globe by commercial
airliner in little more than 40 hours.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen Charlupski host-
ed a leadership reception on behalf of
Albert Einstein Lodge and Chapter
B'nai B'rith in their Southfield home.
William Lite of Detroit is the
newly eleCted president of the
Pinsker Progressive Aid Society.
1961
Rabbi Bernard S. Raskas of St. Paul,
Minn., became the first rabbi to
serve as chaplain of the Minnesota
State Legislature in 102 years.
Albert Elazar, superintendent of
United Hebrew Schools of Detroit,
was named chairman of the
Michigan District for tile Second
Annual Bible Contest.
.
.
The American export liner LaGuardia
left New York for Haifa with the first-
ever shipment of Manischewitz
Passover gift food parcels.
Louis H. Luckoff, president of
Luckoff, Wayburn & Frankel Inc.,
Detroit advertising agency, has been
invited to address the New York
University School of Retailing.
— Compiled by Sy Manello,
A
editorial assistant 1/19
2001
37