Concentration camp imnate's uniform withdrawn from Paris auction

Paris auctioneers have withdrawn a concentration camp inmate’s uniform from sale after protests by left-wing councillors.

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The costume, described as “jacket in mixed wool, with grey and matt-blue stripes, stitched identification numbers and red triangles, in good condition”, was withdrawn from an auction of historical and political posters at the Drouot auction house on Tuesday.

It had been the uniform of a political prisoner, detained during the Nazi rule of Germany and occupation of France and was valued at 400-600 euros.

The man's son had put it up for sale, according to auctioneers Delorme et Collin du Bocage, who said that it had been dropped from the catalogue because of the reactions that it had excited.

Two Paris city councillors, Ian Brossart and Catherine Vieu-Charier of the Communist and Left Party group, had earlier issued a statement protesting at the sale.

“Is anything allowed?” it read. “To sell at auction, hidden among posters, a concentration camp detainee’s uniform is an intolerable trivialising of memory.”