SS on Ebay....not for long

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Martin, you can freely collect in Germany. Simply PUBLIC display of the Swastika, other Nazi symbols or Motto's and slogans are prohibited. So you can go to a show in Germany and buy stuff. Dealers put little stickers over the offending parts. The Police will be a shows. I once saw a dealer at Stuttgart get an on the spot fine, as the sticker had been removed by a collector or had fell off after someone inspected the item. He was not happy!

My German and Austrian friends have their collections on display behind closed curtains and doors. They are always very cautious of who they let see their collections and limit it to other collectors.

Cheers, Ade.

PS: I was at a show in the South of France about 10 years ago. The German stuff was hidden under the tables and you had to ask if they had anything German. It was all very cautious. I slipped up and passed on a good bronze Pz badge which was cheap as I was hurried to look at it....

[HPL2008]

so can you get into trouble for having WW2 Nazi items in germany or france?
are you allowed to display them in your house?

What Ade said.

German laws ban public display and wearing of Nazi symbols. If a collector wants to, say, decorate his living room with a huge Swastika flag, he may do so as long as it is not visible from the outside. If he wants to fly it in his allotment garden, he'll be in big trouble.

This extends to pretty much any use of Nazi symbols (not just related to collecting), by the way. Technically, it is not even illegal to get Nazi tattoos. The offence occurs when they are shown in public.

Buying, selling, collecting and owning Third Reich-era militaria is legal as long as it is done in compliance with §§ 86 and 86a of the German Penal Code, which permits it as long as it occurs "in the interest of political education, the defence against unconstitutional intentions, art or science, research or teaching, coverage of contemporary events or history and similiar purposes." Online shops of German militaria dealers always have a disclaimer informing the customer that business is to be undertaken only under these conditions.

[Gunny Hartmann]

The dealer i use in Berlin uses little red stickers to cover up the swastikas, when you show interest in an item she will carefully peel back the sticker to show you "it is still there". She told me she had a visit from the police because a member of the public had seen a swastika on a buckle, the sticker had dried up and fallen off next to the buckle, the cop was pretty laid back and just asked her to cover it up again!...

[kirby]

You even see this at the Max and SOS. European dealers don't bother to take their stickers off. With all the politically correct BS I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen in America. I use to wear a SS buckle to school in the 70's. Today you would get sent home or suspended or maybe some sensitivity training.

[greatwhite]

Dont see to much covered here in the UK, dealers and shows quite openly display their goods.

[ironcross13]

wow it seems a bit hard on collectors in Germany then must have to be very careful with their collections, would not want high value items took by police.

so could some one go to jail if the put a flag in there garden?
do people get into trouble a lot stuff to do with Third Reich, is it in the paper alot over there?
are there any reenactments in Germany?

no nothing is covered in UK shows, they fly Nazi Flags and run around in SS uniforms, there was something on the paper about it it was posted on here.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

How strange it is that items from the Stalin regime are freely available on eBay. But then he is only responsible for a mere 20 million deaths and was (eventually) fighting on the side of the allies.

[Wagriff]

20 Million...and that's just the war casualties...that's not even counting the Purges and the Gulags..

[bigmacglenn]

I called it "Cherry-Picking History" the last time they cancelled my auction...Now that they're giving "buyers" an outrageous 6-month (!!!) return/refund guarantee, sellers are finding out that they've actually become Merchandise Lenders...I'm done with it, this was the last straw, lol...
Glenn

[Wagriff]

A Half a Year return policy is absurd....try doing that for a 60 thousand dollar Cadillac...