Poland’s Foreign Minister said Sunday (November 16, 2025) that an “offensive” auction of Holocaust artifacts has been cancelled in Germany, relaying information from his German counterpart, following complaints from Holocaust survivors.

Radoslaw Sikorski made the comments on the X platform, saying he and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul “agreed that such a scandal must be prevented.” The top Polish diplomat thanked Mr. Wadephul for the information that the auction was cancelled.

Earlier, a Holocaust survivors group called on the German auction house Felzmann to cancel Monday’s (November 17, 2025) sale of hundreds of Holocaust artifacts, including letters written by prisoners and other documents that identify many people by name.

A listing of information about the auction on the Auktionhaus Felzmann website on Sunday (November 16, 2025) morning was no longer on the site by mid-afternoon. The house did not immediately respond to calls, an email and a text message on Sunday (November 16, 2025).

The collection of over 600 lots at auction in western Neuss, near Düsseldorf, included letters written by prisoners from German concentration camps to loved ones at home, Gestapo index cards and other perpetrator documents, the German news agency dpa reported. The auction was titled “The System of Terror”.

“For victims of Nazi persecution and Holocaust survivors, this auction is a cynical and shameless undertaking that leaves them outraged and speechless,” Christoph Heubner, an executive vice president of The International Auschwitz Committee, a Berlin-based group of survivors, said in a statement on Saturday (November 15, 2025).

“Their history and the suffering of all those persecuted and murdered by the Nazis is being exploited for commercial gain,” he added. The committee said the names of individuals were identifiable in many of the documents.

Mr. Heubner said such documents of persecution and the Holocaust “belong to the families of the victims. They should be displayed in museums or memorial exhibitions and not degraded to mere commodities.”

“We urge those responsible at the Felzmann auction house to show some basic decency and cancel the auction,” he added.

Germany’s Foreign Minister hit out Monday (August 18, 2025) at what he called China’s repeated threats to “unilaterally change” borders in the Asia-Pacific region, calling Beijing “increasingly aggressive”.

“China repeatedly threatens, more or less openly, to unilaterally change the status quo and shift borders in its favour,” Johann Wadephul said in Japan, citing China’s behaviour in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas.

“Any escalation in this sensitive hub of international trade would have serious consequences for global security and the world economy,” Mr. Wadephul said after talks with Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya.

A statement issued on Sunday before Mr. Wadephul’s visit to Japan — and later Indonesia — said that China was “increasingly asserting its regional supremacy and, in doing so, is also questioning principles of international law.”

“China’s increasingly aggressive behaviour in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas also has implications for us in Europe: fundamental principles of our global coexistence are at stake here,” the statement quoted Mr. Wadephul as saying.

In the joint press statement in Tokyo, Mr. Wadephul also criticised “China’s support for the Russian war machine” in Ukraine.

“Without it, the war of aggression against Ukraine would not be possible. China is Russia’s largest supplier of dual-use goods and Russia’s best oil and gas customer,” Mr. Wadephul said.

He also said ahead of talks later Monday between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders that security guarantees for Kyiv were “crucial”.

Mr. Trump’s summit on Friday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska “made it clear that for a just and lasting peace, Moscow must finally act. Until that happens, pressure on Russia must be increased, including with increased aid to Ukraine,” Mr. Wadephul said.

The talks on Monday in Washington are about establishing “the elements of a negotiated solution on the path to a just peace for Ukraine,” he said.

“Firm security guarantees are crucial for this. Because Ukraine must be able to defend itself effectively even after a ceasefire and peace agreement.”