Nazi memorabilia are items produced during the height of Nazism in Germany, particularly the years between 1933 and 1945. Nazi memorabilia includes a variety of objects from the material culture of Nazi Germany, especially those featuring swastikas and other Nazi symbolism and imagery or connected to Nazi propaganda. Examples are military and paramilitary uniforms, insignia, coins and banknotes, medals, flags, daggers, guns, posters, contemporary photos, books, publications, and ephemera.
During the Second World War, soldiers from opposing Allied forces often took small items from fallen enemies as war trophies. [1] These and other items from this time period have since been acquired by museums and individual collectors. In Europe museums still regularly receive everyday artifacts from the Nazi era and have to deal with remnants of National Socialism. [2]
In recent years the market for buying and selling Nazi memorabilia has increased. [3] As veterans pass away, some families have tried to get rid of their possessions.
Many in the general public are offended by, and condemn, auctions, militaria shops, online stores and other businesses selling Nazi 'antiques', and find the goods and commercial trading 'tasteless' and 'hateful'. However, many of those wanting to restrict the trade of Nazi collectibles will accept donations to public museums. While many private collectors are exclusively interested in the historical background and fascinated by the distinctive design of the items, some collectors are in fact political supporters of Neo-Nazism and other hate groups. [4]
With the growing demands for Nazi memorabilia, many Jewish groups are disapproving the sale and purchase of Nazi products for leisure purposes. Others such as Haim Gertner, director of Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, believe that some of the Nazi memorabilia are worth saving, claiming that anti-Semitic history shouldn't be forgotten. [5] [6]
As original items from the Nazi era and Second World War are sold for high prices, there is a large amount of copies, forgeries and even inauthentic objects on the market. [3]
The sale of Nazi memorabilia is strictly prohibited in some parts of Europe. In France, the Internet portal site Yahoo! was sued in the case LICRA v. Yahoo! (2000) by the Union of Jewish Students and the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism for "justifying war crimes and crimes against humanity" by allowing such memorabilia to be sold via its auction pages. [7] Yahoo!'s response was to ban the sale of Nazi memorabilia through its website. A Paris court cleared Yahoo! in 2003.
Fearing similar litigation, auction website eBay enacted new guidelines regarding the sale of Nazi memorabilia in 2003. eBay's policies prohibit items relating to Nazi media propaganda, items made after 1933 that contains a swastika, Nazi reproduction items such as uniforms, and all Holocaust-related products. Memorabilia such as coins, stamps, or printed period literature such as magazines, books, or pamphlets are not prohibited. [8]
The Gleiwitz incident was a false flag attack on the radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz staged by Nazi Germany on the night of 31 August 1939. Along with some two dozen similar incidents, the attack was manufactured by Germany as a casus belli to justify the invasion of Poland. Prior to the invasion, Adolf Hitler gave a radio address condemning the acts and announcing German plans to attack Poland, which began the next morning. Despite the German government using the attack as a justification to go to war with Poland, the Gleiwitz assailants were not Polish but were German SS officers wearing Polish uniforms.
The uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel (SS) served to distinguish its Nazi paramilitary ranks between 1925 and 1945 from the ranks of the Wehrmacht, the German state, and the Nazi Party.
Militaria, also known as military memorabilia, are military equipment which are collected for their historical significance. Such items include firearms, swords, sabres, knives, bayonets, helmets and other equipment such as uniforms, military orders and decorations and insignia.
The uniforms and insignia of the Sturmabteilung (SA) were Nazi Party paramilitary ranks and uniforms used by SA stormtroopers from 1921 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945. The titles and phrases used by the SA were the basis for paramilitary titles used by several other Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the Schutzstaffel (SS). Early SS ranks were identical to the SA, since the SS was originally considered a sub-organisation of the Sturmabteilung.
Staffelführer was one of the first paramilitary ranks used by the German Schutzstaffel (SS) in the early years of that group's existence. The later SS rank of Staffelführer traces its origins to the First World War, where the title was used by commanding officers of the Deutsches Heer's Luftstreitkräfte aircraft squadrons initially named as Feldflieger Abteilung as observation-only units in 1914, and during 1916, became known as Staffeln.
Ranks and insignia were used by the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) as paramilitary titles between approximately 1928 and the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945. Such ranks were held within the political leadership corps of the Nazi Party, charged with the overseeing of the regular Nazi Party members.
The Golden Party Badge was an award authorised by Adolf Hitler in a decree in October 1933. It was a special award given to all Nazi Party members who had, as of 9 November 1933, registered numbers from 1 to 100,000 and had unbroken Party membership. The recipient's party number was inscribed on the reverse of the badge. Only 20,487 men and 1,795 women were awarded the badge on these terms.
The 20th-century German Nazi Party made extensive use of graphic symbols, especially the swastika, notably in the form of the swastika flag, which became the co-national flag of Nazi Germany in 1933, and the sole national flag in 1935. A very similar flag had represented the Party beginning in 1920.
The Nazi regime in Germany actively promoted and censored forms of art between 1933 and 1945. Upon becoming dictator in 1933, Adolf Hitler gave his personal artistic preference the force of law to a degree rarely known before. In the case of Germany, the model was to be classical Greek and Roman art, seen by Hitler as an art whose exterior form embodied an inner racial ideal. It was, furthermore, to be comprehensible to the average man. This art was to be both heroic and romantic. The Nazis viewed the culture of the Weimar period with disgust. Their response stemmed partly from conservative aesthetics and partly from their determination to use culture as propaganda.
Nazi chic is the use of style, imagery, and paraphernalia in clothing and popular culture related to Nazi-era Germany, especially when used for taboo-breaking or shock value rather than out of genuine support of Nazism or Nazi ideology.
Allegro is a Polish online e-commerce platform.
Alexander Autographs is an auctioneer of historic militaria, autographs, manuscripts, relics, and other collectibles. Based in Chesapeake City, Maryland, the auction house first opened to bidders in 1993 and has since garnered controversy for the sale of items like Nazi memorabilia.
The German Strafgesetzbuch in section § 86a outlaws "use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations" outside the contexts of "art or science, research or teaching". The law does not name the individual symbols to be outlawed, and there is no official exhaustive list. However, the law has primarily been used to outlaw fascist, Nazi, communist, Islamic extremist and Russian militarist symbols. The law, adopted during the Cold War, most notably affected the Communist Party of Germany, which was banned as unconstitutional in 1956; the Socialist Reich Party, which was banned in 1952; and several small far-right parties.
The use of symbols of the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany (1933–1945) is currently subject to legal restrictions in a number of countries, such as Austria, Brazil, UK, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and other countries.
The SS Zivilabzeichen was a badge of the SS issued between the years of 1933 and 1938 to SS members.
Craig Gottlieb is an American dealer of militaria and antique dealer, known for his appearances on the History television program Pawn Stars, and for his uncovering of notable military artifacts. He also appears on the Science Channel show, Mysteries of the Abandoned. Among the notable items he has discovered are Adolf Hitler's desk set, on which the 1938 Munich Agreement was signed, Benito Mussolini's hat, and Hitler-owned paintings of the dictator's parents. In January 2014, Gottlieb discovered and purchased what he believes may be a false passport belonging to Auschwitz concentration camp physician Josef Mengele.
Emin Xhinovci is a retired Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) insurgent and restaurant owner from Mitrovica known for his striking resemblance to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The Lofoten War Memorial Museum is a World War II museum located in Svolvær, Norway. It focuses on providing informative content about the Second World War, with a particular emphasis on events that took place in the Lofoten area and Northern Norway during the German occupation of Norway (1940–1945).
The Metz 1944 Cuff Title, or Metz 1944 Cuff Band, was a World War II German military decoration instituted to reward members of the Wehrmacht who took part in the 1944 battle of Metz.
While there is no notable neo-Nazi movement in Taiwan, the use of Nazi symbolism and imagery in the country has been observed throughout the years, often causing controversy. Those occasions involve a Nazi themed parade at a school, restaurants serving dishes honouring Nazis or displaying Nazi-related pictures and other decor, which led to public outcries.