Harlan Crow says he's 'put away' his controversial Hitler paintings, even though he insists there's nothing wrong with displaying them

• Harlan Crow said he has "put away" his two controversial Adolf Hitler paintings.
• But the GOP megadonor insisted he sees nothing wrong with having them on display.

GOP megadonor Harlan Crow says he has "put away" his infamous Hitler paintings, but he wouldn't say whether the Nazi memorabilia was off display permanently and said he doesn't see anything wrong with having them out, The Atlantic reported.

At a 2015 fundraiser Crow planned for Marco Rubio, Crow said, according to the Atlantic, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the display "the height of insensitivity and indifference," the Jewish Journal reported at the time.

That prompted Crow to take the artwork down, he said.

Even still, Crow told The Atlantic he maintains that there's nothing wrong with displaying Hitler paintings — one of which may be fake — saying Hitler's significance as a leader during World War II justifies hanging his paintings up.

"Three World War II leaders—Churchill, Eisenhower, and Hitler— all being artists is, in itself, an interesting story," Crow said, according to the Atlantic. "And I think it would be reasonable at some point to show pictures of all three of them together … But in the current environment, I'm going to say permanently—until I change my mind."

Crow insisted it's obvious that Nazis are bad, even though others might misunderstand his intentions in displaying Hitler's artwork, The Atlantic reported.

He told The Atlantic that the public response to his display has proven he should consider how other people feel.

"The idea that I might offend somebody, particularly somebody I care about, one of my friends, with this stuff—that hurts. I would never want to do that," he said.

Crow's unusual Hitler collection resurfaced in the public eye after numerous reports detailed the billionaire's cozy relationship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

ProPublica first reported that Crow took Thomas on lavish vacations for years and bought his mother's house, allowing her to live there rent-free.

Crow thought that Hitler's teapot and table linens, two more items in Crow's collection of memorabilia, remained on display, The Atlantic reported.

But when Crow went to show off his artifacts in a leather display case, the teapot and table linens were nowhere to be found. They were replaced with a note that read "not to commemorate, but to remember, in hopes that it may never happen again," The Atlantic reported.

Another case turned up empty.

After checking in another case that turned up empty, The Atlantic reported that Crow said, "I didn't know that. I'm not happy about it … I apologize."