Montreal shop claims soap made from Holocaust victims

[Sigrid]

MONTREAL — A vendor's claim that soap for sale in his Montreal trinket shop is made from the corpses of Second World War victims was greeted Friday with both outrage and ridicule.


But Montreal police said they are investigating after the B'nai Brith League for Human Rights lodged a complaint under a Criminal Code ban on violating human remains.


The story surfaced after a CBC radio reporter disclosed that a curio shop on St. Laurent Boulevard was selling a bar of soap allegedly made from the fat of Holocaust victims.


The light brown bar was inscribed with a swastika and enclosed in a glass case with a card that said it was from Poland, from approximately 1940, according to CBC.


In spite of rumours to the contrary, there is no evidence the Germans ever made soap out of human flesh, most Holocaust experts today agree. Marvin Kurz, B'nai Brith's national legal counsel, said true or not, the offer to sell such an item is outrageous.

[...]

Montreal shop claims soap made from Holocaust victims

[MDK]

In spite of rumours to the contrary, there is no evidence the Germans ever made soap out of human flesh, most Holocaust experts today agree.

Lampshades and thumb light switches too.

Marvin Kurz, B'nai Brith's national legal counsel, said true or not, the offer to sell such an item is outrageous.

The jews sold the story first and we know it was a lie. They even had Auschwitz tour guides with 'Survivors' selling the soap story to visitors.

It's a good job i'm not a German or from any country that has the holocaust denial law in place, they would want to lock me up for up to 7 years for pointing out these lies.

[Silver Stallion]

Print Story: Jewish shop owner defends decision to sell possible Holocaust-era soap on Yahoo! Canada News

Jewish shop owner defends decision to sell possible Holocaust-era soap

By Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL - Abraham Botines will be the first to tell you he has no idea if a bar of swastika-engraved soap he owns from the Nazi era is really made of human remains.

But the owner of an eclectic curiosity shop in a trendy Montreal neighbourhood makes no apologies about wanting to sell the item - a rarity that has caused a mini-storm in the Jewish community.

Botines, a Spanish-born Jew who has operated the quirky boutique since 1967, said Friday that no one in his family wants the soap or other controversial war-era items.

So the feisty store owner has decided, given his advanced age and weakening health, that it is time to sell the soap that he bought at top dollar from a retired Canadian soldier.

"I'm 73 and I was collecting things from the Holocaust and from World War 2 because I belong to that period," Botines said in an interview Friday in the cluttered shop.

"In my lifetime I got a lot of curiosity items - that is, things that are hard to find ... and my things, my children, they don't have any interest."

But Botines is adamant he's selling a collectible item and not hateful ideology.

After reporters began descending on the store Friday morning, the controversial bar of soap was put aside.

Botines said it can now be seen only by serious collectors or those willing to pony up the starting asking price of $300.

"It's my soap and I'm free to do anything I want with it," he said.

Different Jewish groups have raised concerns about the sale of the Nazi-era soap purportedly made from Holocaust victims. They agree that selling the object is offensive.

B'nai Brith Canada sent a representative to the shop on Friday and said it would like police to investigate.

At best, Jewish community groups said the soap and other Nazi-era objects belong in a museum to be used as educational tools.

"The only appropriate place for such items is a museum where they're serving a public education purpose," said Anita Bromberg, B'nai Brith's legal counsel, from Toronto.

Botines said the items are historical and prove the Holocaust actually happened.

His son Ivan, who-co-owns the store, doesn't like having the soap around but respects his father's wishes.

"We're not doing this to promote ideology," said Ivan Botines. "We want people to be conscious of this period, not to forget it."
Both father and son have been careful and have refused to sell items to neo-Nazis in the past.
In 2009, B'nai Brith had five complaints across Canada about the sale of controversial items on the Internet and in flea markets, No charges were laid.
It is not illegal to sell items bearing a swastika in Canada.
Reports that soap was produced from human remains during the Second World War have been dismissed by most historians as false and as Nazi propaganda.
"It's an urban myth," said Frank Chalk, a Concordia University professor and a recognized authority on genocide.
There is documented proof that the Nazis made agricultural fertilizer from ashes and used human fat as fuel, Chalk said. But never to make soap.
It's not uncommon to see Nazi memorabilia for sale.
"I think what's important to us is the symbol of hatred and violence against human beings that it represents," Alice Herscovitch, director of Montreal's Holocaust Centre.
"The fact that it would be for sale is what is the most disturbing"

[Davy Crockett]

Soap made out of jew's fat in Germany makes about as much sense as the South making soap out of negro's fat.

The jews that made up that tall tale must be laughing at the number of people that fell for that whopper.