eBay has announced that it is not willing to sell the Mercedes 540K that belonged to Luftwaffe leader Hermann Goering amid concerns about its Nazi connection.
 Hermann Goring was one of a few high-ranking Nazi officers with a Mercedes 540K |
Despite having sold Nazi-related items for years, the company has taken exception to the sale, stating that it does not permit "the sale of items owned of affiliated with Nazi leaders such as Goering", according to a statement.
The news follows High Velocity Classics' announcement that the 540K, which is undergoing restoration, would go up for sale on June 9.
The 1941 540K was likely produced especially for Goering, but was captured by US troops as they took The Berghof, Adolf Hitler's Alpine hideout. It was then used as the personal vehicle of an army officer, before being sold to Staff Sergeant Sam Hosier.
It has since been looked after by collector Richard Taylor, having spent 60 years in his garage.
"We are motivated by the thought that we have found a piece of the war that has been buried. We saved it, and we want to put it into the right hands," commented High Velocity partner David Rathbun.
"We've consulted with the rabbi [Leonid Feldman] at Temple Beth El in West Palm Beach, and following his recommendation, we are going to see if the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington or Yad Vashem in Jerusalem would be interested in it."
Rathbun points out that, although eBay has objected to the sale, it will freely list items from similar regimes to the Nazis and has not took an exception before.
However, the sale of Nazi memorabilia is currently in the spotlight, after an Amsterdam dealer was charged for selling a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf, with the book banned in the Netherlands.
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