Over the years Germany has struggled with what to do with the Nazi era of its history. It has made National Socialism illegal, limited free speech with regards to Nazi propaganda, and spent massive amounts of money on education. The system of concentration camps set up within Germany and surrounding countries presented another issue. Historians want to preserve these places and people want to visit them in order to attempt to understand the enormity that was the Holocaust. Reality sets in when one considers that the upkeep of these places requires money and officials are faced with the prospect of charging a fee and potentially making a profit based on what the Nazis did at these places. To make such a profit seems fundamentally wrong, so the historical societies and government agencies which run these historic sites ask only for a small donation in order to maintain the property
Gottlieb doesn't share similar sentiments with regards to potentially making a profit. The items which fetch the most money are things related directly to Hitler, and Gottlieb over the years has been able to acquire many things from Hitler's Munich apartment which were taken by American soldiers in 1945. Along with his other Nazi era memorabilia he stands to make a little over $3.5 million at auction. While Germany and France outright refuse to allow the trading of anything related to the Nazis, there is still a market out there for this particular type of business.
While Mr. Gottlieb is not doing anything specifically illegal, is he violating some unwritten moral law in this case? Millions of people were murdered by Hitler and his Nazi thugs and now Gottlieb and many like-minded people are peddling Nazi trinkets to the highest bidder. Should this practice be universally outlawed, or is Mr. Gottlieb simply a good modern capitalist?
Thoughts?