Jewelry with Nazi links up for auction despite criticism from Jewish groups

Jewels belonging to an Austrian billionaire, whose German husband made his fortune under the Nazis, went up for auction in Geneva on Wednesday, despite demands by Jewish groups to call the sale off.

The Christie’s auction house plans to sell the entire collection of 700 jewels – estimated to be worth more than $150 million – by the end of the year. Among the main attractions will be the Sunrise Ruby, estimated at $15-20 million, Christie’s said.

The jewelry, including pieces from 20th-century designers such as Cartier, Bulgari, and Van Cleef & Arpels, belonged to Heidi Horten who died last year aged 81, with a fortune of $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.

Historians commissioned by the Horten Foundation published a report in January 2022 saying Heidi Horton's husband Helmut, who died in Switzerland in 1987, was a member of the Nazi party before being expelled.

A growing number of Jewish groups have asked Christie's to halt the sale.

"This sale is indecent," said Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France. "Not only did the funds that allowed the purchase of this jewelry come in part from the Ayranization of Jewish property conducted by Nazi Germany, but this sale is also to finance a foundation with the mission to safeguard the name of a former Nazi for posterity."

"Aryanization" was a Nazi term for a policy of seizing property from Jews and handing it over to non-Jews, and the exclusion of Jews from business.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, said last week that Christie's "must suspend this sale until full research of links to Nazi-era acquisitions is completed."

Meanwhile, the American Jewish Committee criticized Christie's decision to contribute proceeds from the sale to a Holocaust research and education organization.