I’d have considered asking the Holocaust museum (either in DC or your home state if one exists) if they’d have wanted it. That said, my grandfathers served in the Pacific theater, so the bits of memorabilia I have of theirs are Japanese.
2 Likes
What he said. And hey that looks like my old copy of The Marvelous Land of Oz, which I sold to make it out of there. I’ll gladly reimburse you if you bring it back to California for me!
3 Likes
I don’t really feel like all dealers or collectors of that stuff are necessarily racist, but I got a little creeped out when I saw the infamous “Gott mit uns” belt buckle at an antique shop in my neck of the woods.
1 Like
Most of that stuff came home with Veterans after WW2. I don’t think the veterans saved the stuff because of their sympathy with the Nazis.
4 Likes
I’ve seen a few cases like that, both in my home state and when I was travelling through Germany (there, with the swastikas covered with a sticker - swastickers, if you will).
I’m a history buff so I always paused to think about getting something - after all, it’s a part of history that’s had more written about it than any other. But then Tiffany Aching’s second thoughts creep in. What would I do with it once I had it - display it? No, I don’t want to be the guy with a piece of Nazi memorabilia on display. Keep it in a drawer? Then what’s the point of even getting it? So I’ve always walked on and picked up some sci-fi merch to display instead 
However, I don’t judge the sellers of this stuff because they’re selling it (as they’ve always had Allies/other Axis items as well). Pretending that Nazis didn’t exist is a Bad Idea. There’s enough random junk in that cabinet that I could say that maybe they are along the same line. If it was a cabinet of just swastikas/golliwogs etc, then maybe…
4 Likes
top shelf: “minstrelly” figure with banana hat
middle shelf: eagle with swastica over “Kiew”, metal eagle with swastica, swastica brooch. black cross with swastica, belt buckle with swastica, etc, etc
bottom shelf: nazi flag, “thanks for the can” sign with racist caricature.
follow this link and enlarge for more detail
there’s probably more, but the detail’s not great.
2 Likes
I know one guy who literally keeps a Japanese soldier’s skull as a WWII memento. Calls it “Hirohito.” And while that’s a bit macabre, I wasn’t under fire at Peleiu, so I don’t think I have a right to judge a guy who survived that.
Anyway, when people destroy the physical evidence of history, they are just making it easier for others to rewrite the past. Most US antique stores have a display case like this - I’ve seen dozens, at least, because I like antique stores - and that’s exactly where this stuff belongs. In the antique shop.
8 Likes
It belongs in a museum!
10 Likes
If that’s ALL THE RACISM in Ohio they must not have had any racist incidents since the 60s. Instead I see a bunch of old crap in a thrift store cabinet. Nothing to see here, move on, just a bunch of old crap.
2 Likes
Yeah, lot of the Nazi stuff looks like “confiscated” souvenirs from WWII veterans. Don’t think the confiscators were Nazi fans. By the way, as a stamp and coin collector myself, I recently found out that neo-Nazis/Aryans are well know for buying this type of stuff up. But they are so stupid they will spend big bucks on practically valueless stamps with Hitler on them, amongst other items. Probably need them for their shrines, I guess.
2 Likes
Just look at it.
2 Likes
Nazis gonna nazi.
It’s swastikas all the way down.
2 Likes
I believe the actual quote is: “Ohio Nazis, I hate these guys”
2 Likes
While I’ve heard of many instances of trophy skulls of Japanese soldiers, for some reason I haven’t ever heard of someone keeping the skull of a German soldier.
5 Likes
Mrs. Butterworth is a straight-up peckerwood.
2 Likes
