Mogul spent $660K on Nazi memorabilia so it wouldn't fall into wrong hands

[JMM]

Abdallah Chatila bought Nazi memorabilia to keep it out of wrong hands

[lew07]

Yes .The items included Hitlers top hat!!!!

[carpediem]

Good grief.

[Agitatorn]

"Chatila said he originally planned to destroy the items " Would be better for him to find a hobby or donate 660 k
to charity.

[Rescue190]

"Chatila said he originally planned to destroy the items " Would be better for him to find a hobby or donate 660 k
to charity.

He would be better off donating to me. I will buy original items and preserve history like the rest of us do. Not buying hearsay and questionable items, although we have done that too, but not on that scale.
John

[AZPhil]

WOW!! That was not what I had expected to read about who bought them.
"planned to destroy the items " That brings a new meaning to having money to burn!

Thanks for posting that JMM
Semper Fi
Phil

[HoundsTooth]

What an ridiculously short sighted individual - he's just wasted over half a million dollars that could be put to much better use.
"Fall in to the hands of neo nazis!" - he hasn't got a clue, since when do they spend $55k on Hitler's hat??

Incredibly naive knee jerk reaction.

nick

[JPhilip]

Hello,
I did read that this lebanese guy is now planning to give the items to an israeli foundation for educational purposes
Thanks

[TrondK]

Well, some people dont understand that when they themselves destroy history, then they are JUST like ISIS.

So i leave my comment hoover in the air just in case senor Chatila wants to read about what us amateur historians think about his hate crime against human history

[BrodieBartfast]

This is a common perception of militaria collectors amongst those outside of the hobby, particular collectors of Third Reich-era artefacts. The public at large do not understand why anyone would want to collect ‘Nazi stuff’, due to its history, and consequently they conflate historical interest with political interest.

I felt this way in my early months of collecting. At first, I was afraid to buy anything with a swastika. That feeling is long gone, of course, but I think many of us came from the same place initially. And after many years of collecting, you lose the ‘outsider’s perception’, and forget what the hobby looks like to those who are not part of it.

This man’s actions are the epitome of that sentiment, an example of it in its most extreme. I commend him for donating the items to an Israeli educational society, rather than destroying them. But the very idea of destroying artefacts is a common sentiment amongst non-collectors. As they have no interest in the historical aspect of these items, and do not consider it, they see only the political side of them.

That is why the collecting of ‘Nazi stuff’ is so publicly reviled, and it will only get worse as time goes on, and these events recede further into the past.

B.B.