I acquired one of only two surviving copies of the original drawings of the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoria – a truly evil document. I hope to exhibit it at institutions dedicated to fighting antisemitism and ultimately to donate it to one of them. At a time of surging antisemitism and Holocaust denial, this irrefutable proof of Nazi genocidal intent is more
I wrote about my acquisition for The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page:
I am a patriotic American and a proud Jew. I consider it my civic duty to fight antisemitism and help preserve the memory of the Holocaust. That’s why I acquired one of only two surviving architectural drawings of the first design of the crematoria at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
This original drawing—or whiteprint—was made by Austrian architect Walter Dejaco. The only other known copy of this genocidal schematic is in Moscow’s State Military Archive, which is inaccessible to Westerners.
In 2024 I helped the nonprofit Counter Extremism Project buy the house next door to Auschwitz, where camp commandant Rudolf Höss lived with his family. The house has been turned into a research center to combat antisemitism and other forms of extremism.
I acquired the whiteprint earlier this year from the Temple of the Arts Synagogue in Beverly Hills, into whose possession it had come by way of a friend of a congregant. The latter had bought it at a Nazi memorabilia auction in Germany, with both buyer and seller unaware of its historical significance. Rabbi David Baron of Temple of the Arts wishes to create a global curriculum on “altruistic behavior”—his way of inoculating the young against extremism—in honor of the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. The sum I paid for the whiteprint is the same number in dollars as the number of children killed. The money will be used for the curriculum project.
Read the rest in The Wall Street Journal.