'Profiteering off the back of genocide': Fury at auction house memorabilia sale
An auction house in the Cotswolds has been criticised for organising an auction selling Nazi Flags, Third Reich medals and Luftwaffe badges.
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Harper Field in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, describes itself as "a family business", which "has grown to become one of the region's leading salerooms".
But more than a hundred members of a group called "Community Solidarity Stroud District" said they are "making money on Nazi symbols" and "profiteering off the back of genocide".
After a public outcry led by the group, the auctioneers confirmed to LBC that the auction has now been cancelled.
A statement provided by Harper Field said: "Tomorrow’s auction has now been cancelled, so we hope that the matter is closed."
In a letter to the auction house sent on February 7, 2026, the community group wrote: "We are writing with deep concern about your upcoming February auction.
"Nestled among the British and European medals and militaria are over 70 lots of various Nazi medals, armbands, pins, and other material. There appear to be hundreds of items from one of the darkest periods in European and world history. Many of the lots being sold are listed as replicas.
“A few weeks ago, people in the Stroud District came together to remember the Holocaust. We paid tribute to the six million Jews and millions of Slavic people, LGBTQ+, disabled people, religious minorities and others who were murdered by the Nazi regime. The sale of Nazi artefacts is an assault on their memory.
“While the UK has not joined the majority of European countries that have banned the sale and display of Nazi symbols, in 2025 a major auction house in Scotland specialising in militaria took the decision to stop selling such items. They came to the conclusion that such items represent hate, terror, and suffering and are a painful reminder to those who lost family, friends and neighbours in the Holocaust. Trading in Nazi symbols trivialises and denies this cataclysmic event in our history.
“Harper Field is making money on Nazi symbols. It is profiteering off the back of genocide, an immoral income and we think your business and the people of Stroud are better off without it. We believe the commercial trading of Nazism normalises and contributes to the rise of neo-Nazism, antisemitism, and hate, which are on the rise in the UK, Europe and across the globe.
“We know that you have been approached directly and asked not to proceed but thus far have declined. We ask you respectfully to reconsider your position and withdraw these items from sale and cease future sales of Nazi and SS paraphernalia.”
This letter, shown to LBC, has been signed by more than 120 people.
Denise Needleman, one of the signatories, said: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if the auction houses… said we are making a decision not to sell this stuff and that they won't take and they won't list Nazi memorabilia? This stuff does have an important place.
"It has an important place in museums, it has important place as part of an education and a learning from history. But what it isn't is something that should be sold for profit and the glorification of Nazism."
Countries like France, Germany, Austria and Hungary have all banned the sale of Nazi memorabilia but it is not illegal in the UK.
However, sales of such items have been controversial.
In 2019, Bloomfield Auctions in Belfast cancelled a sale of similar artefacts after an outcry from Jewish leaders.
Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams, three of the world's biggest auction houses, refuse to trade items connected to Nazi Germany.