Sold! Hitler memorabilia goes to Argentine buyer

[Tiki Tom]

Anyone ever read the ODESSA File?

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/li...uys-hitlers-last-jacket-other-nazi-items-for/

Quote from article: "when the reporter asked him who he was, the bidder declined to give his name and only said he came from Argentina. ...He used the number "888," Reuters said, evoking the neo-Nazi code "88" that marks the eighth letter of the alphabet and stands for the banned greeting "Heil Hitler."​

Elsewhere I've read that the buyer claimed to be representing a museum in Argentina. Nonetheless, with the Forsyth book vivid in my memory (despite having read it in my teens!), I find this story and the mystery buyer a bit creepy.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I think I'd pass on Goering's underwear.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think I'd pass on Goering's underwear.

First known example of "parachute pants."

 

[Stearmen]

 

[filfoster]

Looked at this online. I was surprised that I had actually spoken to the seller many years ago. (Not about Goring's silk unmentionables or Adolf's sock drawer). I hope those XXL drillies have a GI boot print square in the middle.

 

[scotrace]

I wouldn't want anything with that much evil juju anywhere near me. I have a white cotton circle with a black swastika on it, likely from the center of a red flag, that is the only piece of my dad's war booty remaining. And that is securely boxed up, well out of sight. I wonder sometimes if isn't responsible for half the bum run of luck I've had for several years.

 

[Smithy]

I remember when we lived in Santiago, Chile being at our local which was the terrace bar for a hotel and having a drink in the late afternoon on a very hot summer's day. A family came in, mum, dad, a son and daughter, all blonde haired and blue eyed and speaking German, they were very haughty and severe. When the waiter came they spoke perfect Spanish with an Argentinian accent and were incredibly rude and arrogant to the hotel staff. My wife and I did wonder if the father and mother's parents had nipped out of Germany at an opportune time in the middle of last century.

 

[filfoster]

I wouldn't want anything with that much evil juju anywhere near me. I have a white cotton circle with a black swastika on it, likely from the center of a red flag, that is the only piece of my dad's war booty remaining. And that is securely boxed up, well out of sight. I wonder sometimes if isn't responsible for half the bum run of luck I've had for several years.

Scotrace: On the other hand, it was some good luck your dad, like mine, came back home with these souvenirs, alive, to father us. That's pretty good luck.
The flotsam and jetsam of defeated tyrannies is for me, and others, the satisfying reminder that these bad guys lost. We can laugh at their silk drawers and folks foolish enough to pay a fortune for them. I don't think we'll see a commemorative line of these for sale anytime soon.

 

[scotrace]

Excellent point. They lived to tell the tale.
Dad stumbled and fell at just the moment a sniper fired at him. Serious luck.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Excellent point. They lived to tell the tale.
Dad stumbled and fell at just the moment a sniper fired at him. Serious luck.

Luck had nothing to do with it!

 

[scotrace]

You're right, of course. He was among the spared.

 

[Stearmen]

Luck had nothing to do with it!

There's an old Fighter Pilot adage that goes, "I'd rather be lucky then good!"

 

[MikeKardec]

I wouldn't want anything with that much evil juju anywhere near me. I have a white cotton circle with a black swastika on it, likely from the center of a red flag, that is the only piece of my dad's war booty remaining. And that is securely boxed up, well out of sight. I wonder sometimes if isn't responsible for half the bum run of luck I've had for several years.

I know how you feel. I have a couple of Nazi Medals captured insignia and a knife collected by previous generations of my family. I've thought about selling them but don't want to encourage anyone to want that stuff even though it is legitimate history in many ways. I might just bury it somewhere and forget about it.

 

[rocketeer]

In a few years, maybe even a couple of hundred, we may be looking at these things probably in wonder. Were Genghis Kahn's armour or Vlad the Impalers uniform to be discovered and come to auction folks will be clamouring for them.
Why do we try to insist that we wipe the face of the earth of anything to do with Nazi Germany be destroyed unless it belongs to the good guys. Just because someone collects genuine Nazi relics and not just German WWII items does not make them a racist or even encourage them to be racist or whatever. It is in a person's genetic make up to be bad I personally think.
What historical figures have committed sins equel to the Nazi's we will never really know as there is no authenticated documents or photographs to confirm things such as King Herod's order to kill all the baby boys under two years of age in his Massacre of the Innocents? Were something of his to be discovered and confirmed ownership assured would it be destroyed for his heinous crimes? I doubt it.
Maybe it is simply because there are still people alive who's mothers, fathers, grandfathers etc, suffered under the Nazi regime who have had direct contact with these Nazi victims. Will it be ok to collect this stuff once a 100 years has passed from the death of the last survivor of the WWII period? Who knows.
In the USA collectors go mad for Confederate artifacts, arms and uniforms. Surely slavery must rate almost as bad as the Nazi's

 

[Bertie.Wooster]

There are some peculiar people around the world. Probably a extensive WWII era collector, more the items were used by the famous, apparently the 'worth' goes sky high. Some mentioned these to be treasured among collectors;
Stone that made Leonardo Da Vinci trip up
A famous artist's water bottle that he used when to finish a wall painting (became really famous)
A handkerchief used to wipe snot used by a famous leader
Un-playable, display only violin from the Titanic
pair of children's shoes from the Titanic
A junky piece of trumpet found on a destroyed ship

 

[Edward]

In a few years, maybe even a couple of hundred, we may be looking at these things probably in wonder. Were Genghis Kahn's armour or Vlad the Impalers uniform to be discovered and come to auction folks will be clamouring for them.

Nail on head. It really is a lot about time and distance. Whiled many of us have or haved had living realtives who went through that period, I think you'll still see this sort of debate. Once we're all gone, they'll be mored historical artefacts. I tend to the view that sensitive treatment is the key, rather than destruction. THat, and I worry about an attitude that says one 'side' must be preserved, the other destroyed - starts to feel less like marking the fall of evil, more like triumphalism.

 

[MikeKardec]

In a few years, maybe even a couple of hundred, we may be looking at these things probably in wonder. Were Genghis Kahn's armour or Vlad the Impalers uniform to be discovered and come to auction folks will be clamouring for them.
Why do we try to insist that we wipe the face of the earth of anything to do with Nazi Germany be destroyed unless it belongs to the good guys. Just because someone collects genuine Nazi relics and not just German WWII items does not make them a racist or even encourage them to be racist or whatever. It is in a person's genetic make up to be bad I personally think.
What historical figures have committed sins equel to the Nazi's we will never really know as there is no authenticated documents or photographs to confirm things such as King Herod's order to kill all the baby boys under two years of age in his Massacre of the Innocents? Were something of his to be discovered and confirmed ownership assured would it be destroyed for his heinous crimes? I doubt it.
Maybe it is simply because there are still people alive who's mothers, fathers, grandfathers etc, suffered under the Nazi regime who have had direct contact with these Nazi victims. Will it be ok to collect this stuff once a 100 years has passed from the death of the last survivor of the WWII period? Who knows.
In the USA collectors go mad for Confederate artifacts, arms and uniforms. Surely slavery must rate almost as bad as the Nazi's

Regardless of what I said, and the fact that I'm part Gypsy and part Jew, I agree with you. There is a certain lack of logic to it. At the same time, I'm not sure I'd choose to collect Roman swords specifically used to kill Christians or Chinese rifles used in the conquest of Tibet. It's okay for others, however. My choices are only personal. Much as I don't want to display the Nazi stuff I have there is some pride in American Gypsies and Jews taking back their relative's pound of flesh from the Third Reich. My Gypsies and Jews were a bit more uncivilized than many in Europe, they came off of Nebraska farms and the Oklahoma oil fields. History is useless without the "what goes around comes around" lesson.

 

[Otter]

Ouch Mike !

They tried to wipe your family line out from both sides. The Porajmos isn't as widely known as the Holocaust.

 

[MikeKardec]

Ouch Mike !

They tried to wipe your family line out from both sides. The Porajmos isn't as widely known as the Holocaust.

I'm laughing at your "Ouch!" I think the two sides of my family didn't really have a racial axe to grind in WWII, those that pitched in just did what was asked of them, sometimes a bit grumpily, whether that was fighting in Europe or working in an ammo plant. Most, I believe had left their "old country" identities behind ... that's something I think we might be a bit more concerned with today. They might do a traditional dance or swear in the old language but they ran their meat through the deflavorizing machine (nod to Woody Allen) just like the Wonder Bread descendants of the Plymouth Colony.

The Gypsies were always on the far periphery of the family and no one seemed to want to talk about them if they were still, er Gypsy-ing. Here in the US we're a bit more open minded and willing to allow people to change their culture. I think in Europe there has always been suspicion of those who weren't tied to very specific locations through a bond with the landlords/nobility or to the Catholic church or both. If you were "mobile" like Gypsies and Jews and could connect with your people in another parish or country and find a home there just as easily, you weren't trustworthy. There's a lot of Irish in the family too. We're cantankerous.