THIS IS BEYOND SICK - ITS SAD destroying of NAZI items 1945

[Johnny R]

When i was younger I picked up a bunch of flags at a garage sale and had a little one on display in my room during the with some helmets etc. and my Dad slammed the door going out into the garage after he saw that. I asked if he was okay and he commented on the flag and that those people had killed many of his friends and he did not want that symbol displayed in his house especially by his son. After that I started to understand more.

[Jos L C]

The goodies aren't the fault of all this, but they can trigger emotions...unfortunately..
I remember a exposition we once had and a old English vet started all shaking when he saw some German mannequins..., these people and like your father and have very bad memories about all this, it's like being robbed with a gun to the head, you will dislike guns etc after that and this is just one moment you've to deal with violence, most suffered for years, you can't smile at a cap or uniform after that ..
A old guy the family knew once wanted to see my collection, I guess he thought that I collected post war soldiers stuff, when he saw he got mad at me and turned back quickly, they are Nazi's he yelled .., I felt very sorry for that and tried to explain, but he was very upset.
We've to realize that goodies aren't just toys and can trigger emotions big time and I can imagine the burning, destroying and anger.
Fortunately next generation after us don't give a sh*t, so the prices we pay are our prices, not theirs, so enjoy the goodies, next place will be the dump ... .. it already started ..

Jos.

[N.C. Wyeth]

Fortunately next generation after us don't give a sh*t, so the prices we pay are our prices, not theirs, so enjoy the goodies, next place will be the dump ... .. it already started ..

Jos.

With loss of connection, time heals everything . . .

The next generation will not require healing for this tragedy, will have absolutely no connection to it's significance, and will have MUCH LARGER problems to deal with in Life - could be a very powerful thought for all of us collectors . . .

[Chris Boonzaier]

Well of course I understand the anger, the war was insane and brutal, but after all, it wasnt the uniforms that fought the war. Its equipment, and it is very good looking and cool equipment as well.

For me as a collector it is sad to see and read that 'they' (maybe) destroyed 1000s of visor hats and tons of uniforms.

I cant be the only one getting sick seeing this.

I was simply too sick at seeing the human beings at 9.30, put in a building, set alight... and machine gunned and electrocuted as they tried to save their lives.... it kinda used up my sick and I did not have an ounce of vomit left for the 4 visor hats.... I guess thats just me....

Has the "I collect for historical purposes... those who forget history will repeat it... having a visor hat means I dont forget history and I wont become a Nazi...." collector mentality really come so far that folks with the skin burned off hanging in barbed wire passes by without comment, but 4 hats (whatever the nationality) deserve wailing laments?

[3cavman]

As a Combat Veteran Myself I can speak from my experiences when you see you buddies killed and maimed you get very angry and just want to take it out on what is beleived to be the cause . We destroyed so much stuff. But at the time we did not even think about collecting. We were just happy to be alive.

[Willi Z.]

im pretty sure this haul was complet destroyed,photo was taken im my town may 1945

Breslau.

[besslein]

Breslau.

Willi voltreffer

[Dmv]

My father and his friends smashed double decal German helmets with axes and crashed BMW R75 in the woods around 1965-1970 here in Holland. That stuff had no value then, because it was "Nazi" stuff from the bad guys...

[Willi Z.]

My father and his friends smashed double decal German helmets with axes and crashed BMW R75 in the woods around 1965-1970 here in Holland. That stuff had no value then, because it was "Nazi" stuff from the bad guys...

And some families of US veterans throw away the items their family members brought home. Others try to sell them for as much as they can on ebay or to dealers. Many German families removed the eagles from uniforms, or blacked them out on albums or documents. Some threw the stuff out. Others still sell them. Some kept them as is.

The Allies, in some but not all parts of Germany, instituted a denazification plan, as ordered. The Soviets were too busy reopening the concentration camps for their own use, and then handling them over to their puppet "uptopian" states after that.

We are trying to simply complex subject, something which has been around for 1000's of years all over the world. People to this day are still being butchered by their governments. Use google earth on some North Korean labor camps, etc, etc, etc.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Let me first say... I am not talking about the Germans who lived through the 3rd reich... and for the most part seemed to have realised... Germany WAS the bad guy back then... that is was just plain wrong...and have been good guys ever since...

I am talking about our collector friends

I think the above is an insult to the American GIs who advanced through Germany.

The men from 45th Div (Oklahoma) who fought in Sicily, Anzio, Through France and Germany... honorable men who probably had to deal with nightmares for years after the war after they massacered German POWs at Dachau...

Men who were hardened by combat, their friends dying and wounded... but enough disgust and horror left in them, that when they liberated a KZ they shot up dozens of german soldiers in cold blood.

Personally, although I find it horrible, its an action i dont judge... I imagine the sights disturbed them so much, they acted in a way they probably would not have imagined 2 or 3 years before. Pushed to the edge, then breaking and killing in cold blood...

So, to look at murdered and burnt civilians... then to find the destruction of some hats rather disturbing... makes me wonder if this hobby does indeed educate... Tell an old GI thats what disturbed you most in the video... he will wonder what he fought for...

And would someone go up to a Thunderbird Veteren and say "You shouldnt have killed those Germans at the camp... Mass murder? EVERYONES doing it... whats the big deal...? ... they had nice hats..."

I wonder if he would feel insulted?

[Lionel H.]

Strange Debate... A lot of us among Collectors are happy to hunt for rare Stuff, and happy like Children to add "the" rare Item to their Collections... These Items are rare nowadays only because MOST of this Stuff has been destroyed between 45 and TODAY...... (I met a german Family for 2 Weeks which burned the Photoalbum of their Dad (Oblt, F.J.R.26) one Month before, because they didn't want their Childs see the "nazi Period" of their Relative...). It was obvious for ruined civilians and for tired Soldiers to destroy all Symbols of the N.S. Regime... For them, it meant "Start of new times and new Live"..... what seems to me easy to understand. Being sick seing 4 caps being destroyed just make NO Sense, excuse me...
Nevertheless, there is enough remaining Stuff from this important Period of the History to allow thousand of People collecting it.... I would also been very interested to know HOW MANY people are nowaday living thanks to the Rarity of the German Items : how many Shops, Auction Houses, E.Bay Sellers, Authors, Editors, and so on.... I do not want to critisize it, and find not bad that our Hobby provides employment for a lot of Guys throughout the World... The point of knowing if all are honests is another Point... and most of us know the Answer !! But they are also pretty nice and honnest Guys in this Branch too.

[90th Light]

The scrap-heaps of rubbish after the event. All for the taking or the wrecking depending on how you cut your cloth in life.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure",

Chris

[Steinar]

Please give member Steinar a break...I'm sure he posted this from a collectors-point of view TODAY!

Thank you, and you are of course absolutely correct.
This thread was created becasue of the interest and the hobby and nothing else.

[Chris Boonzaier]

OK, point taken..

[Hoss]

Are those gold bars still there

Eric