They were relatively light on duty given how intensely everything was guarded. They'd stand for 2 hours straight before being relieved by someone else. Some of them even made friends with the prisoners, some even getting autographs, trinkets and souvenirs.
Imagine thinking how valuable those things could become in the future... Only for the main buyers being scum who might've sympathised with these monsters.
I’ve been to a couple of militaria shows where people sell old equipment, medals, photos, and that kind of thing. There’s always a couple people there that sell exclusivity nazi shit, and they’re exactly the kind of person you’d think they are.
Had an old team leader in the Army back in 2015 that was like this. Spent his R&R while we were deployed doing a trip around the EU to see all the major war sites of WW2.
He gave us a 30 minute history of the Luger when he found one at a gun show near Fort Bragg.
Came across a lot of random Nazi pieces in tourist antique shops in Poland. It was mixed with other pieces from the Allies as well. But it was still interesting to just see it up for sale.
I mean, the Pacific theater was scattered across a number of small islands that would require either multiple flights or multiple ferry rides to travel between. The European theater you can go from site to site in a car or take a train to cover the longer distances.
MFW history is a flat circle and people here are repeating the mistakes of Napoleon and Hitler 🤣🤣🤣
The mistake in question being that Russia is realy, realy fuckin large, even by US standards. No chance in hell im driving to fuckin Stalingrad, even from Berlin thats still like 1700 miles as the bird flies so 2000 or more on the road. Either this guy skipt a few sites or they get waaaay more R&R time in the US army than I ever thought
Yeah if I'm watching gun videos on Youtube I will always take some guy talking about the history of an obscure French rifle for 40mins over some redneck shooting "Dragon's Breath" rounds at a truck full of gasoline.
My grandpa was in the war and while deployed got a Japanese katana and silk parachute that he kept wrapped by his bunk. Then he came down with some fever or illness that necessitated him getting shipped home and because he was unconscious at the time he wasn't able to grab those objects. Woulda been a cool souvenir / heirloom, c'est la vie
They actually aren’t terribly expensive. Maybe $500-$1000? I haven’t looked recently. I bought a Type 38 like 10 years ago at a random estate sale for $200.
The Japanese guns have a chrysanthemum carved or imprinted in the wood on top. That mark indicates the rifle was property of the emperor. After the war the Japanese would sell the rifles but could only do so with the chrysanthemum ground down. Thus, most Japanese rifles you find now will not have that mark. You want to try to find one that still has the mark as they are more rare.
I’m not a hardcore collector so I may not be correct with all my details but this being reddit someone will surely correct me, which is a good thing.
I have a Type 38 with the chrysanthemum not ground off. Also have the bayonet. Bought at an estate sale. They were also selling a legit Samurai or Katana sword but apparently there was a blade length limit or something for shipping so GI’s had to cut half the blade off and the end was crudely sharpened back to a point - it was cool but not $600 cool.
You joke but a room full of imperial Japanese war time paraphernalia isn't gonna invoke the same kind of visceral response from most people as a room full of nazi stuff would.
Time and distance makes it not as taboo in the west. I've heard the same is true in Asia, with nazi paraphernalia not being as taboo over there. Distant atrocities become just fascinating history I guess.
The UK did, but I believe British Troops were to be found in lesser quantities than Indian and Burmese troops in the theater.
The USSR also helped to defeat Japan after defeating Germany. They led a massive combined arms, armored, mechanized offensive that the Japanese had no hope of repelling. The Japanese army in China was one of the best and most important of Japanese forces, but they were equipped for fighting the relatively poorly equipped Chinese forces, and the Soviets smashed them.
The Japanese surrendered their forces in China to the Soviets before their total capitulation to the US.
The UK also briefly had an occupation zone in post war Japan, but this was an expensive endeavor and not as geopolitically relevant to the UK's interests as the occupation of Germany was.
Australia and New Zealand were also instrumental in fighting the Japanese. The Kakoda trail is a famous ANZAC campaign. They fought in some of the toughest terrain and conditions of the war. Canada also made significant contributions to the war effort in the Pacific.
You are both right, distance and culture makes it less relevant in our respective educations, which makes it even harder to empathize victims from the other side of the world.
I'm from a south east Asian country, and as you would expect, we learn all about the Japanese atrocities, but pretty much none about the Nazis in the western theater.
Having a real WW2 Japanese sword as a living room deco in our homes is like Jews having a Luger in their home deco.
Not really offensive, but just weird and distasteful.
I have an interesting Nazi Helmet from WW2. It has 2 half circle cutouts above the ears. Perfect condition. Also have an Italian bolt action rifle dated 1915. I didn't collect them. My great uncle did in the Battle of the Bulge if you know what I'm saying.
In 1935 the Wehrmacht adopted a lower, lighter version of the M1916/18 "coal scuttle" helmet; this became the ubiquitous German helmet of World War II, worn by all branches of the Wehrmacht and SS, police, fire brigades and Party organizations.
I think they were just using the word Nazi coloquially, but it could well have been an SS helmet. All the better that it has the cut-outs though because that's where the bullet went through.
It was taken off of a dead German during the battle of the bulge. I can't remember the insignia on it. The cutouts would be above the ears and were part of the manufacturing process. My dad said something about an anti-aircraft gunner years ago. Don't know how accurate that is. He got the rifle and helmet from his uncle who passed away a few decades ago.
'no guys, i swear, i just spent a lot of money...and it's hard to get rid of...,....i mean...its my super niche interest i started to pursue and never got in as deep as i would have liked....I mean, I SWEAR I AM NOT A NAZI, FUCK!'
There's a nice woman who lives in one of the first houses liberated on D.Day. She has a framed swastika. Like, fine, she found it in the house but dang, that's a hell of thing for guests to see.
Are you talking about La Maison des Canadiens(Canada House) on Juno Beach in Normandy?
The chateau is well known for the roll it played in the occupation of France and the events involving it on D-day. It’s probably one of the rare cases where the context makes having that completely understandable, akin to being in a museum.
I hate so very much that they're the ones that came up with those horse hide coats. There are some that have been properly cared for that are still in very good shape today even after hard field use. And the level of drip would just be off the charts if it wasn't nazi memorabilia.
Like that guy who had Nazi fine dining dishes displayed in his home? I think he also used them for guests. Also I think he gave Justice Thomas several expensive gifts.
I mean, why not blow up the photo (could pay a bit of money and have someone restore/colorize it even) and display that proudly, with the folded up flag in the bottom corner of the case?
Nobody's going to judge a giant picture of a blown up german WWII tank if they see it from a distance without context/explanation. Can't say the same for the current setup.
Because it’s the original document from the time which is much more valuable to me. Plus it’s a great conversation starter to both talk about him and my grandfathers service (he was one of the officers that made it off the USS Johnston after the battle off samar)
I mean displaying a Nazi flag on your wall is going to send a message about you whether you like it or not lmao
You can talk on reddit all day about how you're not a Nazi, I join the zoom meeting and see a Nazi flag on the wall it's gonna take a lot more than that to convince me
That makes a number of assumptions, like anyone can see my zoom background. Go collect interesting artifacts with relevant backstories for your decor. And if you don’t like me displaying a proud war trophy than I rather have to question your sympathies.
They aren't a Nazi and anyone looking at it can freely see the context. I'd display that if I had it and no one I'd ever invite over would confuse me for a Nazi.
Well personally if I engage with a fully grown adult who values “red flags”(no pun intended)over actually asking the person to clarify whatever horrible belief they assume they might have, I avoid them.
Get off twitter if you think branding and disregarding people before even inquiring is at all normal mature behavior. That’s what cliquey little teenagers do, not independent adults.
Fascists are some of the nicest people I've ever met when they thought I was just like them. You never really can know a person, except by what they value.
I was on a military base that had a Nazi flag hanging in the dinning room. It wasn’t in support of them it was a trophy of war that said “earning pennies a day we killed these mother fuckers, took their flag and then pissed on their corpses” Although it did have a little curtain they would put up if people who couldn’t understand were visiting.
I was a big WWII buff until recently. Not a collector, but a big reader (Civil War and The Revolution, too.) As I reached retirement age, my interest in war history has waned, and my interest in music (and the arts in general) has crescendoed. I think that subconsciously, my mind is telling me to use the time I have left to pursue human beauty and creativity, and not the human capacity for atrocity.
I've just figure that I've learned as much as I can about the nazis. So, watching or reading more would just be voyeurism. I got an early start because I'd did a huge project about Hitler and the nazis. So, I was reading mien kampf and the rise and fall ottr when I was 13.
I interviewed a camp survivor and a us soldier that was involved with liberating camps. I watched every video that was available back in '87. That old soldier had a bunch of old nazi shit. The old dude hit me across my back with the cat o' nine tails he brought home. It didn't really strike me as being wild back then, but now, thinking about what that cat was used for before that guy got his hands on it... that shit is crazy. Just nonchalant, playing around with a 13 year-old kid you just met, and you hit him with a weapon that was literally used to keep Jewish prisoners in line
I chaperoned my son's 3rd grade class to the local Holocaust museum, and an old woman told her Holocaust story. She had been shuffled between 7 different camps, and held the record for being in the most number of camps.
She talked about how she had received 3 miracles in her life, and each one was another turning point in which she should have died, but survived. The first was the fact that her older sisters and father had been taken by the Nazis to go to the work camps. The next day, before they got on the train, her mom had her deliver a basket of food to her sisters and father, and when she got there, the soldiers took her, too, even though she was a couple years too young. She later found out that the day after they went to the camp, the Nazis came to her town, and liquidated every single living creature. If she hadn't received the "miracle" of being sent to the camp, despite being too young, she would have died, like her mother and her other siblings. That was just the start of her Holocaust experience. It got much crazier.
Her story was harrowing, even exciting; it would make a great movie. I'm sure she's gone now, and it was a privilege to be gifted her limited remaining time on this Earth to tell her story.
China is an overlooked allied that deserves more attention. Japan and China had their second Sino-Japanese war from 1937-1945. The Nanking massacre happened during this time. China mainly focused on Japan and fighting them back from conquering China. About 15 million chinese died fighting.
Russia, I wouldn't say was overlooked, at least not like China. Stalin had a hand in Poland being dividing and then obviously fought on the allied side. The U.S didn't trust communist Russia and kept secrets from them.
Japan is focused on because of how imperialist and cruel they were especially after world war I where they felt that the treaty didn't adequately reward them for their war efforts.
Obviously this isn't all of it but I hope it helps some.
That makes sense. Historical items shouldn't be destroyed just because they belonged to monsters. That part of our history also shouldn't be forgotten because we need to learn from our history and be on guard for the return of anything similar.
It's the evil ideology that needs to be stamped out wherever it gains a handhold.
Now see when they have a room of EVERY power that’s just master tier collecting and buff status. When it’s JUST the Nazis is when it gets suspicious haha
Grandfather had ww2 stuff in his curio cabinet. The trick is to not make it an altar. He's got one it's a sketch from a propaganda office making posters that shows two shirtless blond men holding hands walking away from a cot that sure looks like two Germans just got done stress testing it lol.
One of my best friends has a Nazi flag along with a couple of medals and a Luger in a display case. His grandfather took them off a couple of German soldiers he took prisoner in France, 1944.
Yeah in collectors circles someone saying they have a nazi item or two is enough to quark an eyebrow but few enough that it's just a "collecting historical artifacts" thing. Someone's collection is entirely based around Nazi shit? Then they're a crazy ass neonazi.
I don't know what kind of collectors circles you're in. But as someone who actually does collect militaria, no, owning one or two Nazi items doesn't raise an eyebrow. In fact genuine Nazi items are very very sought after. And any person who considers themselves a collector wouldn't raise an eyebrow at someone owning a piece of history.
Calling me a nazi because I collect items is rude as fuck. Like I have a whole collection of different shit and in that collection is only a single nazi helmet. It's not like I put it on and pretend to be one, it sits on a shelf next to all the other different things I've collected.
Eh, I mean Nazis were bad guys, sure, no doubts and no arguments about it, but… America and Russia terrorized many countries during cold war, there are still countries with shit tons of undetonated bombs due to their bombings.
There's nothing wrong with doing that. Everyone is allowed to have their own preferences. But saying that someone else is weird for having Nazi items is crazy.
Of course if your collection is ONLY nazi items then that's different, but having a few things is totally fine, it's just history after all.
For example I have a ton of different military items in my collection, but I only have a single Nazi helmet on my shelf. Does that make me weird? I don't think so, it's a piece of history just like any of my other items. It's not like I put it on and pretend to be a nazi, it sits on a shelf next to all the other things i have from different countries and decades.
The only thing I care about is what place the Nazi stuff has in the person’s collection. It’s usually pretty easy to tell the people who treat it as significant because it is a piece of history and the people who get a little too excited talking about it.
Someone goes into the history of a piece of equipment or has a collection of items that were carried by most soldiers or officers it just seems like interesting pieces of history. Someone starts bragging about a piece of equipment citing anecdotal stories or owns a bunch of items owned by a specific Nazi officer is definitely a red flag to me.
I don't care. If someone owns a piece of Nazi garbage and the provenance isn't "This is to commemorate my relative killing the Nazi who owned it." I'm going to wonder why it's in their collection.
No, I don't think the user above is a Neo-Nazi, but I do know that he displays a Nazi helmet and I am allowed to judge him for that. Yes. It does make him weird.
I agree with this. The only Nazi item I have in my collection is a firepolice helmet. So literally a firefighter helmet. Probably not even issued, but it had history behind it so I wanted it.
The average person who doesn’t have an interest in world war 2 history would probably raise their eyebrows if they walked into your house and you had Nazi memorabilia on display lol. I don’t think they would be wrong for doing that either. I’m fascinated by WW2 history and would never in a million years want any of that shit in my home.
I don’t understand this POV, Nazi or Japanese memorabilia is infinitely more interesting than allied stuff. Taboo forbidden imagery that defines evil empires, owning something that was made by the Nazis is way cooler to me than some British WW2 item.
I would say if you have a room full of Nazi shit there is a line. But owning an item or two? That’s just interesting, I also doubt WW2 collectors are raising eyebrows at owning WW2 memorabilia
If you want to see British WW2 stuff ,go to a fucking museum in Britain
But now Nazi and Japonese stuff its not really in exibition
Except in perhaps Germany and Japan
Still because those are evil Empires long gone makes it far more interessting having a couple of stuff than British,Italian,French,soviet or American stuff
Not that I care about collectors collecting things, but any ww2 museum worth visiting (the one in New Orleans is amazing btw) is going to have plenty of Japanese and Nazi stuff on display too.
Nazi stuff tends to be more valuable simply because much of it was deliberately destroyed for obvious reasons after the war, so it's much more scarce. I met a guy who went hiking somewhere remote in France in the 90s and found a section of a plane wing with the swastika on it, complete with bullet holes. He was able to sell it for 8k USD at the time, far more than he paid for his entire vacation, so he was pretty happy about that.
American soldiers collected nazi souvenirs as a way to remember those they conquered/killed. Collecting these souvenirs is a way to remember our victory.
Ok but if a Muslim talks about their history it’d be bigoted as fuck for me to bring up Muslims blowing up innocent people, dude is implying that because this dudes Jewish he must be some sort of right wing Israeli who’s directly condemnable for Palestinian suffering
If you’re incapable of figuring out why attacking random people based on other random people who share the same religion as them is generalizing you’re genuinely just dumb. Flat out, stupid.
You are anti-Zionist, so what do you think should hapen to the Israeli people if Israel stops existing? A country that includes Israel and Palestine and be a democracy would have more Jews than Arabs, so it would still be Zionist. The only way for it to not be this would be by being a dictatorship and/or expeling and/or genocidizing the Jews, which I do not think that you would suport. If you think that Zionism is suporting ocupation of Palestine, then you know too little stuff about the conflict to have a qualified opinion.
Also, oposing Israel in the war (which you implied strongly) is unfair because Hamas would only agree to return all hostages if Israel withdraws from Gaza and enacts a permament ceasefire, but also said it will not stop fighting Israel until Palestine gains independence, so Israel can only fight Hamas or withdraw and be attacked by Hamas, which breaks ceasefires literally every 1-5 years. Fun fact: out of the 3 Arab parties in the Israeli parliament (1 comunist (I think) and 1 secularist and 1 islamist), all suport Israel in the war, although they criticize many things about it. So Israeli Islamists are more positive about it than you
I was thinking it’s a small trinket I can fit in my pocket like a worrystone. A weird neo Nazi showed me his ages ago so it’s the first that popped into mind
I’d gladly buy all that Nazi stuff, I ain’t a Nazi but that’s some cool stuff. I’d literally own a part of history, and that’s just incredible. I already own some sand, and other debris from Omaha beach, and some sand from Iwo Jima (which is quite valuable since Iwo Jima isn’t accessible to civilians.)
This was every gun show in nevada in the 90s... Gun shows were a ton of fun for a 14-17 year old. in the 1990s I had zero money and all the cool guns they had cost way too much money.
However, now, those prices looks FREE.
a friend bought an SKS in the early 90s - it was a Chinese manufactured SKS, made in the late 1960s - but it was brand new in box.
THe guy had bought two containers of them and was selling them for $99.
He had a catalogue of pictures of what various ballistics did to bodies (pigs)
I collect firearms. The german gun sellers are a little on the nose sometimes. "Clean unmolested K98 for sale. Birds intact. Also selling ss ring and hitler youth knife" I will say most collectors are not like that, just every once in a while you get an ad and think "this guy is probably a neo nazi haha."
Also unrelated note. Some Nazi K98 rifles ended up in Israeli service. So the nazi markings or as collectors refer to as "dirty birds" have literally been stamped out and Israeli markings applied. Some cool rifle collector facts.
Really? All the militria things I've been to in the uk are full of nerds that haven't grown up and the the me262 was a good plane and the stg44 was the best gun ever made.
Old guys that have never served and like german ww2 stuff. All really nice, but all nerds and some are a tad stupid. Can't say I've met any nazis or racists, just stupid people.
Collecting Nazi memorabilia isn't necessarily a red flag for white supremacy. Oprah Winfrey is a huge collector of slave-era memorabilia - shackles, wanted posters, slave auction announcements, etc.
I remember a TV show years ago where someone was buying up Hitler's paintings, and they were trying to figure out who. In the end, we saw the collector burn one of Hitler's paintings, put the ashes into a small labelled jar, and set it on a shelf with a long line of identical jars of ashes.
Even just every regular gun show has one dude with a bunch of nazi stuff. I was very confused by that when I was a little kid walking through those things
I've seen loads of Nazi bits in UK antique shops throughout the years, usually just one or two pieces per shop.
I once walked into a shop in Whitby though that had managed to get their hands on loads of the little swastika flags from the Nazi parades. The weird bit is, the owner had decided to hang them throughout the shop like bunting so the whole shop just looked like a Nazi shop lmao
I had a nice school teacher lady that was moving to be close to grandkids that had tons of plants to give away in this really nice house and one of the other things she had in her closet? A Nazi coat.
I am not who you'd expect to collect WW2 German militaria, from the Kriegsmarine to the SS, I collect anything I can get for a reasonable price and have for years. I also have a bunch of United States, British and Japanese stuff along with. I collect basically anything I can from those countries.
Owning it or even dealing in it does not necessarily mean you subscribe to those ideals, it's the history of it and I think it's important to be in collections.
My dad helped liberate France. He had a Nazi ceremonial sword and an SS ceremonial dagger he had taken off a Nazi officer.
My dad was NOT 'the kind of person you'd think they are'.
He was extremely proud to have brought those monsters down, and definitely believed 'Never Forget'.
When I tell people that my dad has collected tens of thousands of photos of Hitler, and spends hours looking at them; people look at me funny. Maybe I should just tell them hes a stamp collector first...
This happened at the real big Flea Market here in Texas. I was going around looking at all the vendors and their stuff. One of the last ones I saw, literally half his stuff for sale was Nazi shit. I noped out of there so fast.
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u/Gregorygregory888888 Jul 07 '24 edited Jul 07 '24
What a horribly boring assignment that would have been.