my visit to Breendonk camp

[Godts]

Today i've visited for the first time in my young life (im 34) an auffanglager, more specificaly Breendonk in Belgium.
Now that i'm back at home i just need to 'ventilate' my thoughts about this experience because it has left me with some mixed feelings about collecting nazi-memorabilia...
I've read alot of books about the camps, both concentration as transitcamps, i've seen quite some docu's about the subject, from my grandfather i've inherited some books about the Nuremberg trials which i used to read over and over again when i was about 16yrs of age, but today... being confronted with these horrors in real life for the first time i just don't know how to describe my feelings about collecting 3rd-reich items any longer
The moment i left Breendonk my first thought were 'why the f do i collect these things who are related to an organisation which sole purpose was to dominate the 'world' and clean it of people who didnt fit in their 'program'. Inside the camp i just didnt have the time to think about this, simply because i was baffled by the things i saw, read and heard. I took the tour with a personal guide who still has contacts with 1 survivor of Breendonk and i had some serious conversations with this guide, all things that made this visit a lot more 'personal' compared when you visit this place with a group of friends etc.
Then it struck me that i wasn't even in a destruction camp but 'only' in a transitioncamp so i now believe i even can't imagine in the smalest way the things that went on in those camps, compared to Breendonk...
I started collecting for 3 major reasons: -1. the interest in ww2 and more specific the nazi's -2. being an artist myself, the care and precision that most nazi items are constructed with and the symbolism behind it. -3. as an investment. To me money on a bank isn't worth jack sh*t so the last 10 years i've invested in art and militaria (militaria started just recently, about a year or 2 ago)
I know most of u, just like me, have absolutely no sympathy for the nazi's and the things they did/stand for and collect these items out of historical interests or value etc. but seeing in real life where these atrocities took place has changed my thoughts about collecting. I almost feel guilty for owning such items...
When i look at my daggers etc now i think by myself how can i look at these things in awe, almost adore them, spend alot of cash on them, study them, while knowing the horrors they represent... I mean at the moment they look even dirty to me. The thought of selling everything and keeping my interests to research only has even crossed my mind a couple of times the last few hours.
As you can read this visit has stirred things up alot to me and i was wondering how some of you who also visited a camp(s) deal with this? Did you have the same thoughts as i have right now after a visit?
I could go on much longer about this but i'm gonna give it a rest for the time being and see what reaction this thread brings along and hopefully find a way to put these things in perspective.
Dunno if this is the right place in the forum to post this so feel free to remove/delete.

Best,
Tom

[juoneen]

Time to sell out and start collecting stamps.

[Godts]

Juoneen have you ever visited a transit- or destructioncamp?

[sscrooge]

I visited auschwitz and it was a moving place and does bring home the horrors that went on but hasnt stopped me collecting third reich items,it did make my girlfriend break down on the visit and such she hates my items,i suspose it affects people differently,rgds Dave

[RadarZ]

Sounds lime you need to get out of TR collecting, if only for your sanity.

I've been to many airshows and have seen classic warbirds from the era, including B-17's & B-29's.
I never got a shuddering feeling of revulsion thinking about the 100,000's of people these very machines have blown up and roasted alive, nor am I revulsed with the TR items I have in my military collection.
They are all part of an epoch of history, when men and nations struggled for dominance and existence - Such was the power of events, that we still feel the affects from those terrible trials this very day.

Nations have passed laws banning the ownership & sales of such items, you should feel lucky to live in a nation that doesn't feel the need to cover up its collective eyes, and shiver at the very thought of ghosts decades gone.
Nonetheless, if you feel that your ownership of such items is a hypocritical contradiction, then you should just walk away.

[Godts]

Your answer sure makes a lot of sence Radar, thx. It's not that i find it an hypocritical contradiction to collect TR items in the true meaning of the word, it's just that visiting that place had a bigger impact on me then i'd expected.

[sscrooge]

an item is just an item and just that,its the people that wore them that did the horrors at these places,now unless you are going to start collecting old concentration camp guards i wouldnt worry , enjoy your hobby,rgds Dave

[mdj]

I love Breendonk and its Duvel............

[oli4vercammen]

I find it strange that it tells the history of the camp, but no where in the entire camp you can find anything concerning "Breendonk 2", the time when the collaborators where put there after the war...

[Godts]

In the final section u visit there's a part dedicated to Breendonk 2...
This still stays a sensitive matter tho, the guide explained. After the camp was libarated alot of ex-prisoners indeed captured a part of the campguards etc and gave them a little payback treatment of their own in Breendonk.

[PlaceOfBayonets]

Ahhh I am so glad I am an Imperial Collector. All the fun minus the guilt LOL

W.