Is It Wrong To Own Nazi Paraphernalia?

I'm referring to authentic Nazi memorabilia only. Not new products made post WWII.

My neighbor up my street had a collection of historic memorabilia, and he did have a few authentic Nazi products. He was a WWII vet as well. It seems that these days owning anything with a confederate flag or a swastika will get someone in trouble.

 

Depends who you ask. I don't have a problem with it. But in this day and age people will cry about anything.

 

Hell no! I have all my grandparents gear from uniforms to iron crosses to the rifles they used. I've got a stick grenade, dials from shot down British war planes they collected. Panzercorps medals, totenkopf insignia, SS insignias, battle flags, battle jacks, shell casings, NDSAP document cards, party joining cards. You name it, down to the letter they wrote home.

The Nazis were without a doubt the best dressed and best looking unit of any modern war and without doubt, original authentic militaristia sells for a fortune.

My grandfathers first class iron cross, in the original presentation case and documents I could sell for a small fortune. And that's only one medal of theirs.

 

Nazi sympathizers usually don't have a problem with it. The issue that people have with this sort of thing is not with the Nazi paraphernalia itself, but with the suspect and unclear intentions/mentality of the owner.

 

My father brought back some Nazi daggers and bayonets from the war, and after he died my mother sold them to a war souvenier store. Nothing wrong with it, in fact I always thought they were pretty cool. That doesn't mean it's okay to fly the Nazi German flag outside your house, and I also don't approve of flying the Confederate flag.

 

Unclear intentions?

The intention is somebody bought it because they wanted it. Anything further is just petty scrutinization by someone who wants to have an argument about it.

Two collectors having a discussion:

Hey where did you find this? Is that a genuine second class iron cross? I see the swastika hasn't been ground down, great find well done"
"Yes I bought this at an auction in Louisiana, I did the magnet test to prove its authenticity, im really please with it"

Some uneducated dickwank:

"Hey errrmerrrgod is that a swastika errrmagod are you like a Nazi or something errmerrrgod you're a terrible person errrr errrr *more shit dribble*"

 

My son in law collects military stuff, including Nazi memorabilia. Latest addition, a de-commissioned Mauser rifle to add to the uniforms, medals and other bits and pieces.

He also has a large collection of books about Hitler and his cohorts. When I first met him years ago, I was a bit worried that my daughter was getting involved with a Nazi sympathizer, but really he's not. He just finds it all fascinating.

 

As Ygg pointed out, it has less to do with the stuff itself than the reason that someone has it.

I had an aquaintance who was a Neo Nazi and genuinelly believed that Jewish folks and minorities should be exterminated--he used some authentic and more
modern Nazi paraphenalia to decorate his belongings and make his beliefs known. Questionable usage of these items.

But again I know some WW2 vets who have similar items from WW2 and keep them for reasons similar to what Irm was describing. No problems there. A lot of museums would be considered immoral by this logic (owning nazi paraphrnalia = bad).

 

I Guess When It All Boils Down To It........It's Just History.......BUT...... I Wouldn't Want Any

Of That Crap In My House Thank You......That's Why We Have Museums......



Cheers Glen.

 

No chance. Being that is associated with a killing machine. Not within a hundred feet of my house

 

Not even fifty feet?

 

Hope you have a big property. You never know what the guy next door has hidden away.

 

i like to interview my neighbors to see if they are Nazi sympathisers. Just in case.

 

So are you CIA?

Or FEMA...I doubt they will tell you...for all you know they could be serial killers or North Koreans planted here.

Or maybe it's just the Cunninghams

 

Tru dat!

It's politically incorrect to say this. But Nazi uniforms are dope as fuck!

 

That makes sense. Owning Nazi artifacts is one thing, but having it out in the open where everybody can see is a different story.

The thing is that many people over the years have gone out of their way to destroy authentic Nazi artifacts. All this did was create a scarcity, which inevitably led to higher demand of the products that exist today. Now, people are buying Nazi products as investments because there are collectors out there who will pay top dollar for taboo and controversial historic artifacts. And that stuff is only gonna go up in value.

 

It depends on the details as always:

No. It's not wrong by definition to own and/or collect nazi stuff.
Yes. Motivation and mindset of the owner/collector matters.

Same with being intrigued by and/or having a love for the german side and story during WW2. It's not wrong by definition at all, but yeah.. it can take a dubious turn. Obviously People who act oblivious to that possibility (but i would emphasize its only a possibility at first instance) are annoying: because they're either stupid or ignorant on the subject, or simply being dishonest.

 

Ygg, Irm....
Well aren't we friendly.

And to be on topic, I don't think it's wrong, if you're into history, and not a neonazi.

 

Yes, my father kept his artifacts in a drawer full of collectibles where he could take them out and show them off anytime, but he never put them on open display, that would have been inappropriate.

 

Interesting in that owning nazi paraphernalia is frowned upon, but when you look how it was obtained. Ww2 veteran who fought for freedoms of people. You understand the importance of it, what it represented, Should this should be hidden like it is a dirty secret. just because you have these things does not make you a Nazi. German soldiers had no choice, not all German soldiers were nazis. There is a difference.

 

It's also strange that owning WWII Japanese items is not considered as bad as German items. The Japanese attacked us, not the Germans, and they were every bit as brutal as the Nazis if not more so. And yet somehow this flag



is not looked upon as being as evil as this flag.