WII Historians Glorify Hitler! New Laws to Lock 'em Up?

[Rev.Cambeul]

In search of the Nazi memorabilia collectors

Matthew Bell | Sunday 11 March 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/in-search-of-the-nazi-memorabilia-collectors-7555059.html

The trade in artefacts linked to Hitler is booming in Britain. Matthew Bell uncovers an astonishing auction, where a tray listed at £600 sells for £28,000

In France, Germany, Austria or Hungary, it would have been illegal. But in a converted church in Bristol on Tuesday, there was laughter and applause as the star lot in a sale of Nazi memorabilia sold for more than 40 times its estimate. This was not the "interesting if somewhat brutal Gestapo truncheon used for crowd control and interrogation". That was yet to come and, like most lots, would exceed its estimate at the sale run by the auctioneers Dreweatts.

No. Today's prize item was a silver tray presented to Adolf Hitler for his 50th birthday by Albert Speer. It was described in the catalogue as "bearing the eagle device with wings folded and displayed, flanked by the initials A H"; the estimate was £600-£800. But with interest from within the room, online and from bidders speaking by phone to six staff, the hammer fell at £28,000, plus £6,000 commission. The tray sold to an anonymous UK phone bidder.

"The trade is booming," said Malcolm Claridge, an expert on militaria for Dreweatts. "There's always interest in the big names: it used to be Wellington and Napoleon; now it's Hitler, Goering and Himmler. The trade always gets good money for quality things, and the design and quality of the German stuff is particularly good. But I had no idea it was going to go mad like that."

And yet, the signs have been there. In November, a single bedsheet "believed" to have belonged to Hitler sold for £2,000. In 2010, the historian David Irving sold Hitler's walking stick to a New York collector for more than £7,000. He is now offering single strands of Hitler's hair at £1,000 each. And in 2009, the metal sign over the entrance to Auschwitz, with the words Arbeit macht frei ("Work sets you free"), was stolen, apparently to order. On Thursday, just two days after the Bristol sale, Mullocks in Shropshire sold a large stash of Hitler photos and paperwork for thousands of pounds.

Many collectors say their interest is purely historical. Malcolm Fisher, a dealer who runs the website Regimentals, believes that for some of his clients there is a "buffoon element" to owning something bearing a swastika. "It's something you can use to shock your mates," he says. But some suspect a more sinister motive. Ann Widdecombe, a Tory MP until 2010, was disgusted by last week's sale: "It's very disturbing that this trade exists," she said. "I mean, who is paying £28,000 for that? And what else are they doing?"

Peter Hain, the shadow Welsh Secretary, who campaigns for United Against Fascism, described the auction as "obscene". He questioned whether such a trade was good for Britain.

There is no legislation in Britain against the trade of Nazi memorabilia, and no plans to ban it, but in France, Germany, Austria and Hungary it is illegal. In 2001, the online auction house eBay imposed a ban on "items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance", singling out Nazi memorabilia and books such as Mein Kampf. Sotheby's and Christie's do not trade in Third Reich material, and in 2010, Bonhams changed its policy to stop accepting it.

Clive Cockram is a private collector of Second World War memorabilia, who travelled from London for Tuesday's sale. Among his purchases was a 1928 copy of Mein Kampf, a book by Hermann Goering, and an SS dinner plate with all the SS runes on it. For him, these items are simply of historical interest: "You can't sweep it all under the carpet and pretend none of it ever happened."

Does Dreweatts have an ethical problem profiting from the regime that murdered six million Jews? "For me, personally, no," says Mr Claridge. "My son is a soldier: he fought in Afghanistan. I was brought up with the military. Everybody realises that what the Nazis did was completely wrong. But the Holocaust should be explained to the younger generation, and, yes, you should be allowed to collect these things. People think it's perpetuating neo-Nazis. But that's a big paranoia. It's like collecting Roman helmets: you wouldn't buy them because you were a Caesar supporter."

But when The Independent on Sunday asked for images of the truncheon and swastika-bearing flags, Dreweatts declined. "The company directors have asked that we don't use the sensitive images you are requesting," said a spokesman. "We don't wish to offend anyone in any way."

In 2005, the EU's political affairs committee published a report on neo-Nazism. Its author, Mikhail Margelov, expressed particular dismay at the "hundreds of Nazi sites on the internet" where "one can find... advertisements for and sales of Nazi memorabilia – flags, swastikas, uniforms, etc – or the text of Mein Kampf and other 'works' of Nazi doctrine".

The Imperial War Museum in London has a large collection of Nazi and Holocaust artefacts, some of which it buys at public auction. Richard Westwood-Brookes, a historical documents specialist at Mullocks, believes it is important that Third Reich documentation is preserved.

"The moment you start to push this out of view, it lets in the Holocaust deniers. Anybody who comes to one of my sales will be in no doubt that the Holocaust happened."

[Albert]

The great historian David Irving has had problems and even done jail for researching and then publishing the truth, even though he has been shown to be a truthful, objective historian.
He has a pretty good collection of militaria. A friend of mine visited him recently and was shown a pair of Hitlers spectacles!
How they can be verified as genuine i don't know. Maybe nazi memorabilia will become quasi religious like the myriad pieces of the "true" cross that used to travel around Europe in medeival times.
Its like John F Kennedy said...
"Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived... He had a mystery about him in the way that he lived and in the manner of his death that will live and grow after him. HE HAD IN HIM THE STUFF OF WHICH LEGENDS ARE MADE."

[PatTracy]

Whew! I'm glad I made my purchases when they were still affordable. I was also lucky enough to inherit some items as well. Mine aren't for selling though. They will remain as heirlooms no matter what the price. Or they will be donated to the Worldwide Creativity Historical Museum in the not too distant future.

[Rev.Cambeul]

Just owning the collection is enough to start tongues wagging and reports to your landlord, Jewish Supremacist groups or the JOG itself. For years I have owned a collection of German, Australian and British militaria. Most of the Australian was from my own time with the Australian army and some of the British is from grandparents' and great-grandparents' time with the British army and navy. It doesn't matter how much or what you collect, all it takes is a single NS era German item and there will always be someone to declare that you are a "Nazi!" Even a WWI German helmet is enough to set them off. Twenty years ago I had a neighbour that collected a load of Jap crap; but historical items about slant-eyed, murdering, cannibalistic war-criminals are considered to be in good taste because those slant-eyed, yellow bastards have such a wonderful culture. I was denounced as a "Nazi!" because the same people that so favourably judged the Jap crap, judged me otherwise because they saw a swastika on the spine of a history book on a bookshelf in my home. You can imagine for yourself the reaction that the acquisition of an actual collection brought about ....

If you own enough to fill your home, the average person will comment that it feels like they are walking into a museum - that is, if they say anything at all. The occasional Naziphile will latch onto your German items and launch into a lecture about everything Adolf. But there will always be one that will denounce you, demand the item/items be destroyed or donated to a museum where they "should be LOCKED under glass!" And it doesn't matter whether they are Judeophiles or White Nationalist Patriots, the reaction and denunciation is exactly the same.

So if you do not want to be denounced as a "Nazi!" then you'd better be careful the next time you take a cultural excursion to India and make sure that you Hindu artefacts are not inscribed with that dreaded swastika, or you will wind up on your knees begging for forgiveness because your desecration of the world with your hate, was only an innocent mistake.  :'(

But if you are like me, then mistake be damned! You will not get on your knees for anyone. If they are going to call us "Nazis!" then by George, let's be Nazis! Make the next item you add to your collection something that will make the bastards really squirm.

@Cailen.

How about a coffee mug with ...

https://creativityalliance.com/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=351
Design your own shirts and more at the Creativity Storefront Design Centre
http://www.creativitystorefront.com/Create/Default.aspx

[Albert]

I think most of these threats to ban this and that are just idle threats really. Militaria is a legitimate multi-billion dollar industry. Just naive left wing pricks don't understand it. China and Israel even do a huge line in fakes showing they have no conscience at all if there is a shekel to be made. Indeed i expect many of the largest militaria dealers are jews themselves who won't want to be put out of business.
The EU is in a hoo-ha at the moment because Latvians and Lithuanians still honour their WW2 veterans that fought against the soviets (why shouldn't they honor their grandparents?). The Eu calls them nazis when the real experience of Eastern Europeans is that the communists were ten times worse than nazi occupation. The EU wants to ban right wing symbols but not left wing symbols. The Eastern Europeans won't swallow that Frankfurt school crap..good for them!