A list of names of 801 Jews rescued by German industrialist Oskar Schindler went on the auction block on eBay, with a starting price of $3 million.
The 14 pages containing the original Schindler’s List were auctioned off by California collectors Gary Zimet and Eric Gazin, who are hoping to sell it for $5 million. So far, there are no takers, and bidders have until July 28 to stake their claim.
The date April 18, 1945 is written in pencil on the first page. Only male names appear on the German-language list, as well as each person’s date of birth and profession.
The list was named for Oskar Schindler, 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 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 still exist — including two at Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Museum, and one at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
The sellers said the copy being offered for sale on eBay is located in Israel, according to the paper.
“It is extremely rare that a document of this historical significance is put on the market,” Zimet said. “Many of the survivors on this list and their descendants moved to the United States, and there are names on this list which will sound very familiar to New Yorkers.”
The JTA contributed to this article.
