12/19/2025
Jewish Federation of Cleveland Condemns Local Nazi Memorabilia Auction
Screenshots of the Beachwood Auctions, LLC online auction hosted on liveauctioneers.com shows multiple pieces of Nazi memorabilia up for bid. Screenshot
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News.
by Jimmy Oswald
Nazi memorabilia, some already attracting bids, is being offered for sale through a local online auction – a move the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s board chair Jeffrey J. Wild condemned as “abhorrent.”
Solon-based Beachwood Auctions LLC’s online auction features several items from the Nazi regime, such as plaques and portraits portraying Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking SS officers, Third Reich army daggers and pieces of military uniform, like boots, tunics, helmets and visor hats, range in estimated selling prices from a $100 to a German Waffen SS Panzer Officer Hiterjugend Div. Panzer Uniform Jacket, which the site lists an estimated price up to $20,000 on.
Wild
“Any attempt to glorify Nazis or minimize, deny, or equivocate the Holocaust is abhorrent and fuels the anti-Jewish hatred that persists in our society today,” Wild said in a statement sent to the Cleveland Jewish News. “Artifacts associated with the Nazi regime belong in museums, where they can be used to educate against hate.”
According to state records, Beachwood Auctions, which is based at 7630 Bond Street in Solon, was founded by Mayfield Heights resident Mikheil Kavtaradze. Archived pages on the site show Beachwood Auctions previously sold off Nazi items in 2023.
In an emailed statement send to the CJN, Beachwood Auctions said it does not "endorse fascism, racism or indeed any species of fundamentalism, foreign or domestic" and that it doesn't "seek to glorify the Nazi regime"
"If you can browse thru our catalog, you can see that we specialize in antiques and military collectables from all eras and countries including Third Reich Germany," the auction house said. "These are historical artifacts collected and brought home by American soldiers during WWII in Europe. These are highly collectable items within historians and military history buffs and are silent reminders of an evil Nazi regime and not intended to glorify a Nazi regime in any form."
The auction is also selling other World War II-associated uniforms, documents, equipment, weapons and memorabilia. Samurais used by the Japanese army during World War II, US Air Force radios and radio books, US military uniforms, Soviet Union medals and USSR military uniforms and pistols are also listed to bid on.
The auction, which is hosted on liveauctioneers.com, is titled Beachwood Auctions LLC: Beachwood Antiques & Military Auction 137 and contains 496 total items. Native American statues and crafts, a cello body and paintings are among the non-war associated antiques that can be bought.
While the auction is listed to begin on Dec. 27 at 10 a.m., 191 of the items already contain at least one absentee bid on them while 78 have multiple people vying to purchase them.
LiveAuctioneers is a New York City-based hosting site that allows auction houses to sell their items online and customers to place absentee bids prior to the events and participate in real-time auctions via the web or mobile apps.
