The sickening theft and mutilation of the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign from Auschwitz raises once again the spectre of the sordid trade in Nazi memorabilia.
The sickening theft and mutilation of the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign from Auschwitz raises once again the spectre of the sordid trade in Nazi memorabilia. A simple google search reveals just how easy it is in the online world to buy, sell and browse all manner of items from the Third Reich.
One such site, Militaria-net, styles itself as “one of the worlds premier sellers of fine quality Third Reich related items including medals, badges, insignia, field equipment, uniforms, daggers, CD’s, Posters and more”, a “‘one stop’ shop” for all your Nazi needs, with over 1000 items on sale.
It boasts of offering a “comprehensive range of reproduction Third Reich Militaria and related items”, ideal for “collectors and re-enactors, museums, film/TV, and Theatre Groups” – though the complete lack of vetting means anyone can buy from them. Within a few clicks, anyone on the planet is able to buy, for example, an “iconic brownshirt worn by Hitlers Stormtroopers”: “100% cotton shirt with french cuffs, silver pebbeled buttons and belt hooks”, complete with “wool multi piece swastika armband for that early NSDAP look”.
Even convicted Holocaust-denier David Irving is cashing in. According to the Telegraph, he too has set up a website selling Nazi memorabilia, reportedly selling strands of Adolf Hitler’s hair, Hitler’s walking stick, and a goblet and spoon given as a christening present by Heinrich Himmler to Hermann Goering’s daughter, described as “unacceptable” by Dr Shimon Samuels, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, who told the Daily Mail:
“This Naz-eBay is extremely distasteful to the point of sick. There’s a market out there for Nazi memorabilia. If this is done to glorify Hitler, as I imagine it is, then it is unacceptable.”
Trade in Nazi memorabilia is banned in Austria, France, Poland and Germany, where it is also illegal to deny the Holocaust, display the Swastika, own a copy of Mein Kampf or give the Sieg Heil salute. In Britain, home to many memorabilia websites, none of these are a criminal offence.
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18 Responses to “Auschwitz theft reveals “Naz-ebay” trade in Third Reich memorabilia”
Shamik Das
David Irving IS a racist. He is a convicted holocaust denier.
Leaving historians aside, I’d like to know how it is acceptable for someone to buy, collect, wear Nazi memorabilia.
It is SICKENING.
Liz McShane
Silent Hunter – “The Nazis HAPPENED! Get over it! . . . BUT don’t FORGET IT!” It is not something to get over.
‘Historians who have an interest in the Third Reich’ is one thing, but racists who cloak themselves with the veneer of respectability is something else entirely and people that should be constantly challenged.
Silent Hunter
Leaving historians aside, I’d like to know how it is acceptable for someone to buy, collect, wear Nazi memorabilia.
Hello Shamik,
Agreed; David Irving IS a racist; but it’s because of the things he says . . . not the collecting of Nazi memorabilia.
So is it OK for ‘historians’ to collect Third Reich items or isn’t it in your view? Let’s NOT ‘leave them aside’ since that was the point I was making. BTW; I don’t consider David Irving to be a historian. He’s a racist d*ckhead who deserves all the opprobrium he gets.
In answer to your question, I personally don’t see anything wrong in buying or collecting anything to do with the second world war, including Nazi items, I also don’t see a problem in those harmless folk who like to dress as soldiers of the Werhmacht & US Marine Corps and re-enact WW2 battles in their spare time . . . or are they also racists?
So are all Muslims terrorists because of 9/11? I don’t think so, do you?
Liz, (no relation to Dennis, I hope)
I agree, racists who “cloak” themselves in the veneer of respectability” should be exposed and fought against – that’s the point I was making – it is ludicrously simplistic to tar everyone who has a passing interest in the WW2 or WW1 for that matter (the two generally go together for collectors and historians) as ALL being Nazi’s or racists; I would refer you to my point about ALL Muslims being terrorists.
Just change a few words in your statement and we have . . .
‘Muslims who have an interest in the Fundamentalist Islamic Teaching’ is one thing, but terrorists who cloak themselves with the veneer of respectability is something else entirely and people that should be constantly challenged.
You see how easy it is to include a whole section of society within a sweeping generalisation?
THAT’S the point.
That’s why it’s ludicrously childish to tar everyone who has an interest in military history as being Nazi sympathisers.
BTW – no one on this left leaning site seems to want to address the whole ‘Tony Blair IS a WAR CRIMINAL’ thing.
Why is that?
Silent Hunter
Forgive me, but I should have said at the start that the desecration (that’s what it is after all) of the Auschwitz site is quite appalling and I hope that the men who did this are suitably punished. Anyone who would condone this type of behaviour is not a “historian” nor are they interested in history, if they can countenance such a crime against the memory of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to make the same mistakes.
The Swastika should be a warning to us all as to how easy it is for “fundamentalists” of any persuasion to hijack people with weak intellects and persuade them that a minority group are the cause of ALL the problems they face.
The phrase “British jobs for British workers” springs readily to mind.
Now THAT, was sickening!
Silent Hunter
I take it Shamik & Liz that your silence on the matter now means that you concede the point that I was making?
In particular the “British jobs for British workers” statement by a Labour PM being “sickening”.