An original list of names of 801 Jews rescued by German industrialist Oskar Schindler did not find a buyer on eBay, where the opening bid was set to be at least $3 million for the 14-page list typed on onion skin paper.
California collectors Gary Zimet and Eric Gazin had said when the auction was announced earlier this month that they expected the list to sell for about $5 million.
Though the list had no bids, more than half a million people viewed the auction on eBay. The sellers have said they will not re-list the document for auction at a lower price.
Gazin told the French news agency AFP that the sellers are in “active discussions” with several parties interested in acquiring the list.
Schindler was a German businessman credited with saving more than 1,000 Jews from the Nazis by deeming them essential workers for his enamel works factories.
His story reached worldwide attention after the release of the 1993 feature film “Schindler’s List.” Directed by Steven Spielberg, the movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was based on the Booker Prize-winning novel “Schindler’s Ark,” which Australian novelist Thomas Keneally published in 1982.
Of the seven original versions of the list, only four are known to exist — including two at Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Museum, and one at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.