My friends totally chewed me out for saying I've collected some things from the Third Reich

[daleville]

Always remember what you post on the web can come back to haunt you later, I don't do facebook anymore because people are ignorant, and it's nobodies business what I have or what I'm doing. I'd post more military stuff on there just to piss them off more, but that's how I am LOL
The world needs to poop can all this social media junk and the world will be a whole lot better off.

[Chopperman]

Always remember what you post on the web can come back to haunt you later

True enough

I know of a gentleman who was a very well respected collector and one of my mentors when
I first started posting my collection. He worked for a very politically correct international organization
which, when they found out he collected ww2 German artifacts , fired him. It ruined his career.

[BrodieBartfast]

I'm a relative newcomer to militaria collecting, but not to circumnavigating - or rather circumventing - social circles and norms. I have never been 'normal', in the eyes of many. And so my hobby becomes just another facet of my eccentricity. As someone who doesn't give a fig for what others think of me, it doesn't concern me at all that others might judge me based on ill-founded preconceptions. People judge each other all the time. We are a judgmental species, and to try to fight against that is essentially pissing in the wind.

Saying that, I am not stupid. Recently, one of our neighbours had some hedges and trees cut down. This means their upstairs windows are now able to see into one corner of my collection room. This corner just so happened to be the one in which my NSDAP flag was displayed. I have subsequently taken it down, folded it up and placed it in my display cabinet. They can most likely still see one of the rifles I have mounted on the wall, so perhaps they now think I'm a nutter. But at least they don't think I'm a Nazi nutter. Not that I am overly concerned with what they may think!

I justify my collecting thus: Human history is long, violent and ugly. Every part of it has left behind artifacts and remnants that have survived to the present day. The duty of the historian should be to preserve that history, both physical and written, and the best way to do so is to treat it all with an equal amount of due care and attention. Personal biases only serve to taint or damage that history, or leave behind segments of it that are subsequently destroyed as a result. The attitude of the historian should be a neutral one, whatever their own personal beliefs or political opinions may be. Tell, don't preach.

And so yes, I do collect 'Nazi crap', but I collect it within the broader sphere of the time period I have chosen to preserve, which is itself a single step on the ladder of history. My collection is well-balanced, with a near-equal amount of Axis and Allied artifacts. I do not let any personal biases influence the way I display things. Both sides get equal amounts of 'air time', so to speak.

We are slowly edging into an era of spinelessness and perpetual upset, and so I don't generally share my collection with the wider world. It is, in a way, a part of my personality. And as I don't open up much to others, that fits very well with my personal philosophy. It also helps security-wise, as I'm far less likely to have big burly men in balaclavas kick down my front door and empty out my collection room.

At the end of the day, if your conscience is clear and your motives are sound and just, what reason do you have to justify that to others? What guilt do you have to disprove if it does not exist? You owe nothing to anyone, and they certainly have no right to dictate your morals and your actions.

Whilst surfing the 'net, I found a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche that resonates very well here...

''You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.''

Regards, B.B.

[Hagen]

Been there, it happens.

[Wilhelm Saris]

I think we all have been there.
Some people (friends, relatvies) do understand it, others don't.
I was named a nazi too, but also a "hun", due to my name Wilhelm.
Reprimands do not help!

shutterstock_164124695.jpg

But what the heck: you should have your fun and put aside what
others think.

[CBH]

Kinda off topic, but I remember an old girlfriend saying "Don't you own a nazi plate".
No that was the guy in "American Beauty" the only TR collector ever portrayed on film.
And not a very nice depiction if you ask me.
Collect whatever you like, but share it sparingly with new people. As they simply don't understand.