Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

This Lebanese-Swiss Businessman Bought Hitler’s Top Hat— So Neo-Nazis Couldn’t

A Lebanese-Swiss businessman purchased ten items belonging to Adolf Hitler that were sold at an auction last week so that they didn’t “fall into the wrong hands.”

Abdallah Chatila, a Geneva businessman who made his fortune in diamonds and real estate, purchased items including Hitler’s top hat, cigar box and typewriter, and a silver-plated copy of “Mein Kampf” that once belonged to senior Nazi Hermann Goering, for about $601,000 at last week’s auction at Hermann Historica auction house in Munich.

“I wanted to buy these objects so that they couldn’t be used for neo-Nazi propaganda purposes,” said Abdallah Chatila in an interview with Swiss Sunday newspaper Le Matin Dimanche. “Far-right populism and anti-Semitism are advancing throughout Europe and the world. I didn’t want these objects to fall into the wrong hands and be used by people with dishonest intentions.”

Chatila, who is estimated to be worth about $200.5 million, said he would donate the objects to Keren Hayesod-the United Israel Appeal.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association, had appealed to the auction house to cancel the sale.

In a statement he praised Chatila’s decision to purchase the items: “We were not prepared, however, in this cynical world in which we live, to expect an act of such kindness, such generosity and such solidarity as demonstrated by Mr. Chatila. It is clear he understood our aggravation and hurt at the sale and decided to do something about it in a way that nobody foresaw. We greatly appreciate his understanding that such items have no place on the market and should ultimately be destroyed. But that he chose to give the items to Jews shows a remarkable conscience and understanding.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.