Human Rights Watch and Their Analyst’s ‘Weird’ Hobby
One can measure the failures of the film American Beauty in so many ways, but perhaps the best is to realize that the screenwriter was so unsure of his audience’s ability to spot a creep that he had to make Kevin Spacey’s next-door neighbor not just a sadist and a closet case but also a collector of Nazi memorabilia. I bring this up because a fetish for the baubles of fascism is generally thought to be a good way of alienating civilized company. The auction house Christie’s refuses to sell the stuff. And whatever the interpretative fallacies of the late Susan Sontag, she was surely onto something when she spotted the correlation between this form of “collecting” and pornography.
So when Human Rights Watch first learned that Marc Garlasco, its senior military analyst and a former Pentagon official, moonlights on the internet as “Flak 88,” an obsessive buyer and chronicler of Nazi war paraphernalia, it might have understood right away that it had a public relations crisis on its hands. Instead, the NGO did what it always does when confronted with embarrassing questions about its personnel: it blamed supporters of Israel.
Charging that critics of HRW have accused Garlasco of being a Nazi or an anti-Semite, though failing to cite any of these critics by name, the statement HRW put out read: “This accusation is demonstrably false and fits into a campaign to deflect attention from Human Rights Watch’s rigorous and detailed reporting on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Israeli government. Garlasco has co-authored several of our reports on violations of the laws of war, including in Afghanistan, Georgia, and Iraq, as well as by Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah.” Furthermore, HRW insisted, Garlasco “is the author of a monograph on the history of German Air Force and Army anti-aircraft medals and a contributor to websites that promote serious historical research into the Second World War (and which forbid hate speech).”
HRW’s push-back was followed by Garlasco’s own attempt at self-defense in the Huffington Post to depict himself as a serious military historian, an avocation he attributes to having had two relatives serve on either side during the war. Garlasco wrote as if he had no idea his behavior could bemuse or offend anybody, going so far as to suggest that his after-hours hobby bolsters his work as a professional military investigator and analyst. For that reason, he said, he has never hidden his side gig from anyone “because there’s nothing shameful in it, however weird it might seem to those who aren’t fascinated by military history.”
Clearly, however, he has not been all that transparent with his employer, as HRW has just decided to suspend him, with pay, pending an internal investigation in which it hopes to “learn everything we need to know,” in the words of spokesperson Carroll Bogart. Well, what else could HRW need to know given that strongly worded press release?
Garlasco’s extracurricular activity has been well documented by Omri Ceren at the blog Mere Rhetoric and by NGO Monitor, after both trudged through thousands of comments that “Flak 88” posted to the websites German Combat Awards and Wehrmacht-awards. (No evidence could be found of Garlasco’s alter ego posting to any Allied-related military forums, nor has he or HRW offered up any evidence of his having done so). In these posts, Garlasco, whose screen icon is an image of a German badge with a swastika, enthuses over his personal collection of Nazi knickknacks; he says he takes out his German war medals once a year to marvel at and photograph them.
What does collecting Scooby-Doo or Pokemon memoralbilia allow you to impute to a person’s political views and motivations?
Enforcing political correctness is never attractive, but we should know better. We should challenge HRW on their positions, not the weird collecting habbits of one of their employees.
In the years 1932-1939 this behaviour would have earned the man a risk file at MI5 or the FBI, and they would not have hesitated to (correctly) identify him as a closet… Nazi if not something else.
Nazis are as Nazis do. No one normal, NO ONE, collects or has anything to do with that stuff unless they are adherents to its ideology.
Because a person, collects awards, of which ever Country, it dose not mean they are a beliver in that States views. The man in question has an interest and produced a good reference book. What is this to do with his abilities to do his job?
I agree with patmanshardt.
If your assessment that HRW folks think every criticism of that organization is a Zionist plot is accurate, it would seem to me that that fact alone is your evidence of anti-Semitism or misdirected antipathy toward Israel.
But maybe an HRW staffer who collects Nazi badges is a sexier angle?
Does taking my gun collection out of my safe every year and cleaning them make me a fetishist? I guess if you’re a Democrat it does. I don’t know this joker from Adam, but this kind of thing is borderline. Better to focus on HRW’s failings than on what their folks legally do in their off hours.
Just for everyones edification, 88 Stands for Heil Hitler. H is the eigth letter of the alphabet.
Maybe he can get his hands on a bayonet that punctured and pierced the extremities of countless Jews & their children while being liquidated from humanity. Perhaps he’s into the Luger pistol that blew the brains of entire Jewish families onto the sides of buildings in alleyways where they were ordered to kneel before being murdered. Would it be outrageous to have a few empty canisters of zyclon b laying around, the poison gas used to slaughter roughly 2,000 bubbies, zayda’s, children, mothers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives & fathers all at one time? then calling it Hobby?
I’m in agreement with the first comment here.
“Enforcing political correctness is never attractive, but we should know better. We should challenge HRW on their positions, not the weird collecting habbits of one of their employees.”
I’m not convinced that it’s all that weird anyway. If someone collects comic books, do you suppose that he self-identifies as a superhero? Do you think a stamp collector sympathizes with a letter?
http://breathofthebeast.blogspot.com/
another view of this story can be found here.
There is nothing wrong with collecting Nazi artifacts, per se. It is history. It is real. It needs to be preserved – what else do you suggest? Burn it all? The irony of that would be breathtaking.
If there is other information to indicate that he is a Nazi ‘fetishist’, that’s another matter entirely.
The online name “Flak 88″ is troublesome though. “88″ is commonly used by neo-nazis as a callsign for “HH” (H being the eighth letter of the alphabet) meaning “Heil Hitler”.
George S., thanks for the link, I’m with breathofthebeast on this one; there’s a reason guys like this are drawn to this stuff, and it ain’t pretty.
I agree with Comments 1, 3, and 6. So what? Nazi uniforms and gear were designed by their propaganda types to look cool and intimidating. Collecting 70-year old stuff has nothing to do with his job.
Is everyone who owns an AK-47 a communist?
12. BettyBlue:
George S., thanks for the link, I’m with breathofthebeast on this one; there’s a reason guys like this are drawn to this stuff, and it ain’t pretty.
read the comments …the author has very well worded replies to some critics.
“Just for everyones edification, 88 Stands for Heil Hitler. H is the eigth letter of the alphabet.”
That’s a far out theory.
More likely, the guy’s handle, Flak 88, is a famous German artillery piece.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_FlaK_18/36/37/41
I have several books that were printed in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s that has to do with the race thought of the time. One of those books was printed in 1888 titled “The Aryan Race” and the another published in 1915 is titled “The inequality of Human Races”. I have these books as well as a couple others that I purchased as research to understand the cultural milieu of “Progressive” thought.
Jonathan Nolon, not all things that one would associate with Nazism are what they appear to be. Anymore than Nazism was only about killing Jews. We do a huge disservice to the memories of those murdered Jews if we seek not to understand what brought it about, and to do so outside of the popular perspective that has in large part been brought about by those who were more on the Marxist side of the equation. So to say that everyone who possesses material related to Nazi thought is an adherent to that philosophy is not correct. I personally hope to educate people that Nazism was a pure progressive state, socialist just not the communist version.
From the very end of the book “The Aryan Race”
That a greater equality in the distribution of wealth than now exists will prevail in the future can scarcely be questioned, in view of the growing determination of the masses of mankind to bring to an end the present state of affairs. That the existing degree of thought, industry and art shall cease to be private property, and become free to the public in libraries, museums, and lecture-halls, is equally among the things to be desired and expected. But that superior intellect shall cease to win superior prizes in the “natural selection” of society, is a theory to averse to the teachings of Nature and the evident principles and methods of social evolution ever to come into practical realization in the history of mankind.
Personally I think that this employee of Human Watch understands Fascism and it’s particular German cousin for exactly what it was and thus celebrates what it was all about.
I have an overriding concern for the Netanyahu government and see absolutely nothing wrong with collecting militaria from that or any time period. I have Roman artifacts in my collection. Romans notoriously persecuted Jews, do you really think because I collect Roman antiquities that I dislike the modern Jewish peoples?
#2, Jonathan says: “Nazis are as Nazis do. No one normal, NO ONE, collects or has anything to do with that stuff unless they are adherents to its ideology.”
Trying not to be rude here, but hogwash! I have militaria in my collection from Roman, French, Italian, Boer, Japanese, German, Russian, United States Revolutionary, Civil, British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian conflicts from many eras. You might not be able to understand my mothers collection of porcelain figurines either. If you think I’m a nazi I think you’re a certifiable retard.
“In the years 1932-1939 this behaviour would have earned the man a risk file at MI5 or the FBI, and they would not have hesitated to (correctly) identify him as a closet… Nazi if not something else.”
Incorrect again, being a nazi wasn’t and still isn’t illegal here in the United States. Nor was/is being a communist. anarchist, democrat or republican. In fact there was an official political American nazi party in the US up until the start of hostilities. I’m not sure what happened to it after the war started but it had to have been dissolved I’m sure. There’s probably one now whose members are deluded and in need of heavy medication.
#7 Eljefe says: “Just for everyones edification, 88 Stands for Heil Hitler. H is the eigth letter of the alphabet.”
No, modern skinheads use that connection but this guys moniker of “flak 88″ is referenced to widely used and highly versatile German anti aircraft artillery guns of the era.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_FlaK_18/36/37/41
If he had called himself SS/88 or Endlösung88, there would certainly be room for concern.
#8. David P: Quite an imagination you have there, what reason can you come up with for the US Confederate officers sword I have in my collection, can’t wait to hear what you’ll come up with on that one!
I’m a history buff. I wonder why anyone would read Stephen King, anyone can make up an outrageous story. What it really happened trumps a “ghost” story every time in my book. You do not have to believe in the ideology of a past era to be interested in the era itself. I assume not to many people still actually believe in the ancient Greeks religion but how many here have or would like to see the Parthenon or the Elgin Marbles in person? I know I would and it doesn’t mean I pray to Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades. Just sayin’
Must have forgotten to fill out my name for my # 17 post
it isn’t just collecting memoriblia. ….it doesn’t preclude impariality but does beg the question.
and that question should be investigated.
just like I think the question should be raised about marxism and the current president. given that he is collecting such an odd bunch of friends and advisors.
As a side note, no one seems to have a problem with Japanese war memorabilia. Who can be derided for owning a Samari sword but the Japanese racial policy was as bad if not worse that the Germans Nazi party during WWII. Japanese personnel committed acts of cannibalism against Allied prisoners of war. “the Japanese again started selecting prisoners to eat. Those selected were taken to a hut where their flesh was cut from their bodies while they were alive and they were thrown into a ditch where they later died.”
The way the Imperial Japanese Army treated is POW’s and civilians is par with the worst of the nazi policies and then some, the most ardent Nazis would have palled by their actions I think. Would the situation with person in question be “news worthy” if his moniker were “Shinto” or “731″? Somehow I think not. Thank God the Allies crushed the Axis powers in WWII!
#14, George S., yes, I did read the comments, especially the ones where the author, very intelligently, pokes holes in arguments of one of the posters that collecting Nazi memorabilia is just wholesome, good fun.
#20, anonymous, I can’t speak for everybody here, but I’d certainly have problems with somebody who collected Japanese memorabilia, and swords, solely from the Japanese imperialist, WWII period. (From other periods, not so much; Samurai swords have been around a long time.)
It’s sad that historians have been so neglectful about testifying to Japan’s very real atrocities, during the war. What’s worrisome about this particular situation is that we have a guy who, apparently, has a thing for Nazis, sitting in judgment on Israel! WWII Japan was bad, but it doesn’t really into the problem here.
Japan, and ancient Rome, have very long histories, and both cultures are famous for producing things other than genocide.
Nazi Germany, not so much.
Unlike cultures such as Greece, Rome, pre-WWII Japan and the like, Nazi Germany didn’t produce great works of art, or literature (No, “Mein Kampf” is not a classic!) It didn’t create lasting wealth for it own people, or a society where they could live freely and safely; it isn’t known for its trade, or for its lively and entertaining drama, or uplifting poetry.
It’s famous mostly for one thing.
Tedders, I suggest you go to George S.’s link, and read the comments; scroll down to the end of them, the really trenchent ones are towards the end.
It’s not just about memorabilia.
It’s not the collecting that’s the issue here. It’s his rather stupid effusions about the items that indicates a problem. I don’t see how collecting pieces of history makes one a part of whatever political ideology the piece happens to come from. If I collect Soviet decorations from WWII, does that make me a communist? No, it just makes me a collector. What I SAY about it and the way I treat the subject matter, however, is very different. His enthusiasm belies any respect for the fact that these items he collects were part of horrendous, genocidal regime that plunged the world into chaos and war. THAT is his failing.
As a side note, I know the proprietor of a small local museum who has a rather extensive collection of Nazi-era banners. Part of the reason is that, because of the stigma attached to them, they were rather easy to acquire about 5 years ago. That has since changed and they are now rather difficult and/or expensive to buy. He had a WWII-era German airplane in the museum but that is now gone, and the banners were used a backdrop for it. The banners are still there. Does this make him a closet Nazi? I think not.
“The leather SS jacket makes my blood go gold as it is so COOL!”
hmmm… and this guy collects Nazi stuff TO THE EXCLUSION ON (say) British or American militaria??? And he is a major guy at “Human Rights Watch” which has a history of attacking Israel’s position in the Middle East???
Well. Congratulations for doing this, Mr. Weiss. The losers of the 60s who couldn’t get a decent job after grad school shuffled through VISTA to NGOs like HRW. It is time they retired to their basements, stroking their WWII iron crosses and (maybe) whatever is on the market from Cambodia’s killing fields. Such a nice bunch, eh?
What’s next? Collecting lampshades?
Such a nice bunch, indeed!
As for the studying history, argument. . . if you limit yourself to simply collecting, say, Nazi memorabilia, that doesn’t necessarily make you a Nazi, but it doesn’t make you any student of history, either. If you were really studying history, wouldn’t you want to learn about all the sides involved, not just one? And just looking at all your “cool” stuff won’t teach you a thing about the war.
If someone seemed obsessed with Axis Japan, collecting memorabilia exclusively from that era; if he had a cutesy license plate saying something like “Tojo”—well, I wouldn’t want him on any committee with power to level decisions against China, the Phlippines or Vietam.
If someone had a fixation with Jack the Ripper, collecting Ripper memorabilia and going into ecstasies about how cool a certain find is, (“Woot, woot, I got one of the Ripper’s knives! I just get chills looking at it”) would you really want him serving on the Rescue Women from Sexual Slavery committee?
It’s the same principal here. Maybe the guy’s okay, But maybe. . . .
Collecting this stuff doesn’t necessarily make you a Nazi (or anything else) but it might be a clue as to whether or not you have any business being on certain committees, or leveling judgments against others.
He’s preserving History.
“Tedders, I suggest you go to George S.’s link, and read the comments; scroll down to the end of them, the really trenchent ones are towards the end.
It’s not just about memorabilia.”
I did, for me it’s just about the historical memorabilia. I can’t say if the gut in question is qualified or not for his position but collecting militaria is not a disqualification for his job.
“Japan, and ancient Rome, have very long histories, and both cultures are famous for producing things other than genocide.
Nazi Germany, not so much.”
Stop association every thing German with a failed political ideology that only lasted 12 years. You’ve been indoctrinated and learned your history in the movie theaters, I have a college degree in it.
“Such a nice bunch, indeed!”
As is your moral relativism.
“What’s next? Collecting lampshades?”
LOL. that’s a pretty big jump don’t you think? From collection Whermacht medals to collecting human body parts? I assume you were being sarcastic? Lets hope so!!
“Collecting this stuff doesn’t necessarily make you a Nazi (or anything else) but it might be a clue as to whether or not you have any business being on certain committees, or leveling judgments against others.”
What your implying is quite frankly the same logic that Nazi’s used to justify their gradual erosion of civil liberties and freedom for the peoples they persecuted.
“Japan, and ancient Rome, have very long histories, and both cultures are famous for producing things other than genocide.
Nazi Germany, not so much.”
It doesn’t seem you are unbiased enough to appreciate what contributions the “bad guys” made during a conflict but WWI German armed forces changed the way wars would be fought by beyond a quantum leap. Armored mobility battle field dominance, ballistic missiles, Panzerschreck Rocket propelled grenade, Glide bomb, V-1 flying bomb (cruise missile), HEAT and HESH Anti Armour warheads, Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 (FG 42) – Sturmgewehr 44, were all weapons/systems made by WWI Germany. They are now used by every modern armed force in the world. There were other major contributions to industry and medicine that you’re probably not aware of either. Don’t let your political/liberal indoctrination get in the way of your grey matter. There’s a big difference between a failed political ideology and an entire nations accomplishments.
Gotta go now, taking tha family on a long weekend outing. Cheers to all, have a wonderful weekend!
I guess all the cute teenagers I see wearing Che T-shirts are really closet communists. ¡Que Viva Fidel!
“Just for everyones edification, 88 Stands for Heil Hitler. H is the eigth letter of the alphabet.”
Actually, Flak88 as a whole refers to the notorious 88mm FlaK 36/37 dual-purpose gun which killed one hell of a lot of Allied soldiers and airmen.
The part that bugs me is the all-Nazi nature of his collections. I know WWII collectors who have German stuff- but also US, British, Russian, Japanese etc. It’s his focus exclusively on the Third Reich that’s creepy.
But then, this is HRW, enablers and defenders of the Nazis’ heirs Hamas.
“I guess all the cute teenagers I see wearing Che T-shirts are really closet communists. ¡Que Viva Fidel!”
Either that, or clueless Useful Idiots.
I’m sure you wouldn’t be so laid back about “cute” kids wearing Himmler t-shirts.
Tedders:
Actually the Panzerfaust was the RPG. The Panzerschreck was an enlarged and improved version of US Bazookas captured in Tunisia.
Nor am I aware of any modern weapon related to the rather oddball FG42, which was a sort of super-BAR. The StG43/MP44, the first assault rifle, was a very different weapon.
The way I look at it; hoarders collect garbage and people that collect Nazi memorabilia are worst than hoarders. This stuff belongs in museums and not with some horny ex military guy with a Nazi fetish.
How would you all feel if there was an investigation into the conduct of the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan (which will probably come soon once they’re done with Israel) and one of the “experts” there was an avid collector of Taliban and Al-Qaeda memorabilia.
I have no problem with someone collecting this stuff. As a matter of fact the desire to suppress it is, shall I say, too fascist.
The only disturbing thing is that he also is active, or over active in castigating Israel. That is the red flag that I see.
And yes, the Flack 88 was an extremely famous and effective multi purpose artillery piece. So famous that any time British or American soldiers came under fire of direct fire artillery they always said they were fired on by an “88”, even though there were numerous other calibers.
This is like saying someone that collects Darth Vader helmets support the destruction of planets and the mass death of little Jedi children. Jeeze, get a life.
That sort of logic is also employed by the Canadian
“Human Rights” Commission. It has members joining neo-nazi websites, like stormfront, in order to drum up business.
Only in a very narrow sense could this make sense.
So much for true enlightenment and broadmindedness.
There’s military memorabilia, and then there’s jew-killing memorabilia. Only sick people collect the latter. It’s far worse than collecting serial killer items, and I think most people would agree THAT’S weird. The former is fine.
Actually, HEAT warheads were invented by the Swiss and first employed by the British. The Panzershcreck, as was noted, was enlarged Bazooka. The RPG seems to me to be a combination of the Bazooka/Panzerfaust designs in that the rocket is popped out of the firing tube like a ‘faust but then a rocket motor kicks in, like a bazooka. I believe HESH was a British invention. The FG42 was really sort of a dead end in rifle development.
No one normal, NO ONE, collects or has anything to do with that stuff unless they are adherents to its ideology.
I’m not sure that this is true. I do confess that my first reaction when I see that someone collects such stuff is queasiness or discomfort, until I get to know them a bit better. If they collect World War II memorabilia of multiple countries, it doesn’t freak me out. If all they collect is Nazi or German World War II stuff, I cringe. But I’m not sure that this means that they are adherents.
It would be interesting to survey collectors of German WWII era militaria and ask them what they think of Holocaust museums.
There’s a dealer in “Germania” who specializes in Nazi memorabilia. In explaining that not everything with a swastika is Nazi memorabilia, because the swastika is an ancient symbol, his web site says,
One of the funniest is the gas valve with the swastika on it from the Swastika Stove Company in the U.S. Invariably we are asked what concentration camp this originates from or, in some cases, we are “told” what concentration camp it has come from along with a story of how their grandfather ‘liberated it’ and brought it back from Dachau!
Funniest???
Also note the whiff of Holocaust denial.
I draw the line at Civil War reenacters who dress up in gray.
Also, the defense of Garlasco’s use of Flak88 as an internet ID and vanity license plate being a reference to a German artillery gun, not skinhead code for “Heil Hitler”, is a bit hollow. Those guns killed a lot of Americans.
Pervert attraction to Nazi symbols does indeed indicates an obvious sympathy for that evil regime and the traditional anti-Semitism which goes with it. Garlasco seems to be a perfect choice to collaborate with the HRW’s in its efforts to single out Israel (of all “crual” nations!) for condemnation. Demonization, vilification of Israel are some of the means used, the objective being the gradual dismise of the Jewish state.
Y’all don’t get it, nazi memorabilia is the classic gateway drug, this fool isn’t starting a public museum, he collects and develops bonds with these items, holding them in close regard.
I closely regard those items as well, in my heart I see them as symbols of the purest evil perpetrated by man in modern times. “Imagine” if I were using my imagination to believe that all nazi memorabilia collectors are simply innocent historians.
Okay, Tedders, I get it!
To show that we’re not brainwashed liberals, we must eagerly embrace Nazi artifacts, because, you know, the Germans accomplished such swell things during WWII! They made great strides in crowd control, for one thing! And they were real whizzes in the use of gas, and V-2 rockets, too!
I’ts kinda reverse political correctness here; in order to show you’re NOT liberal, you must admire Nazi ingenuity.
Also, unless we embrace Germany’s Nazi period, we are somehow rejecting the entirety of German history itself! (I don’t follow, here; are you saying that Nazis were the summit of German history? That if we don’t collect their stuff, we won’t know the true Germany? This seems rather strange. Anyway, collectors of Nazi memorabilia never seem interested in the rest of Germany’s history—its medieval history, for instance, or the poetry of Heinrich Heine; nope, it’s always the Nazi stuff they go for. You’ll never catch them collecting Hummel figurines, or WWI Kaiser Wilhelm style helmets—I mean, come on, didn’t Germany make great strides in WWI, too? Wasn’t WWI important? I suspect if you were to ask any one of them about Germany’s other periods, they’d just stare at you blankly. It isn’t Germany per se they’re interested in.)
(By the way, seems to me the allies came up with some nifty inventions in the Big Red One, too; don’t they deserve some mention? Or are the Nazis the only ones who deserve credit for their “contributions” to the war effort? I love the way you phrase that—”contributions”, as if they invented the weaponry they did just to help us. Gosh, thank you, Nazis!)
No, I didn’t learn my history from the movies. That’s why I think collecting Nazi memorabilia, and all it stands for, is, in the end, warped. And, no, someone who does so should not be issuing decisions about Israel.
Now, you run along, have a nice weekend, and, goshers, if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll find some more of that swell Nazi stuff for your fun, and completely harmless, collection.
Oh, by the way, Tedders—I also love the scare quotes you put around “Bad guys” when referring to the Nazis, too. Nice!
David P., you’re right; this stuff is a gateway drug, and, for all their protestations, it’s pretty obvious these collectors have an unhealthy fixation on this stuff.
There’s a dealer in “Germania” who specializes in Nazi memorabilia. In explaining that not everything with a swastika is Nazi memorabilia, because the swastika is an ancient symbol, his web site says,
Well, it is an ancient symbol. But would anyone be collecting stuff with swastikas today if it was a still primarily known as a Southwestern Indian symbol?
This is absurd. Certainly if the man’s comments and personal affiliation were to point us toward him holding those beliefs he is deserving of citicism, however, knocking someone for collecting items (legal items and obtained legally) is over the top.
Some of you are going to great lengths to paint individuals with specific tastes as malignant entities. As a member of a community of enthusiasts I know of several people in that community that collect only German militaria from that time period, While I have only a mild interest in those things (I prefer Western militaria myself)I don’t view any of those individuals as Nazi sympathizers, because they simply aren’t. Using a collectors excitement over finding a much sought after item is disingenuous. Would you label a stamp collector a racist because they enjoy discovering postage stamps from the Confederacy or something? Perhaps a collector of Roman coinage from the time of Christ is an anti-semite?
Let a person’s actions and words condemn them instead of their historical or collecting interests. Following your logic, all Japanese are pedophiles because of their strange obsessions with Hello Kitty and other such things.
Whatever the truth of this individual case i think people are missing a general point.
One reason for Nazi uniform fixations is sado-masochistic and sexual. This is the result of all those films featuring powerful, sadistic but elegantly dressed Nazi officers.
One of the funniest is the gas valve with the swastika on it from the Swastika Stove Company in the U.S. Invariably we are asked what concentration camp this originates from or, in some cases, we are “told” what concentration camp it has come from along with a story of how their grandfather ‘liberated it’ and brought it back from Dachau!
Funniest???
I think the dealer thinks it’s the funniest item because it was likely manufactured long before Hitlers rise to power, and promotion of the swastika to a sign of evil.
I know modelers who’s specialty is German WW II tanks. They are not closet Nazi’s, nor are they sympathetic to their ideology. And here is a certificate from a company printed in 1910. http://www.scripophily.net/dupadmaccom.html well before the Nazi’s rose to power.
I don’t know this guy. I could hardly guess what’s in his heart by what he collects.
Hate what HRW has become, but the politics of personal destruction isn’t a tactic I’d use to discredit them.
Collecting this Nazi crap indicates an admiration for the Nazis.