Nazi goods selling but ‘distasteful’

THE Third Reich failed to last the 1000 years the Nazis foresaw but its memorabilia is hot stuff with collectors in Geelong nearly 70 years after World War II, according to a dealer.
Karhl Earnshaw said Geelong was fertile ground for sales to finance his hobby of collecting Third Reich memorabilia.
He said he had been offloading items including watches and rings, a cigarette case, each with various ornamentation such as death-head skulls and SS runes.
Mr Earnshaw’s collection includes rarities such as a 1933 Stormtrooper uniform complete with cap, shirt, boots, breadbag and water bottle – even a World War I Iron Cross and a Hindenburg Medal.
“It can all be quite expensive – you can pay up to $10,000 for a helmet,” he said.
“There’s a really strong military collectibles market and Third Reich stuff is really popular.”
Mr Earnshaw said he did not condone anything the Nazis did but sometimes received hostile responses from the public when selling his products at markets.
A peak anti-Semitism body, the Anti-Defamation Commission, said the products were offensive.
“We it’s think distasteful for people to be making money from a war that killed 50 million people, not just Jews,” executive director Geoffrey Zygier told the Independent.
“There’s something tacky about that, essentially. What you don’t see much of is Japanese war paraphernalia because that’s a bit close to the bone but there were still a lot of Australians who died fighting against the Germans.’’
Mr Zygier said he doubted that buying Nazi memorabilia encouraged anti-Semitism.