Posted By:
JoannI think part of the problem with this kind of thing may be that there are some people that DO collect and display these items because they support what the items stand for - the racist and supremacy views underlying the Nazi reign. I couldn't even hazard a guess at what percentage fall into this category - probably very small.
So even though we find it intellectually acceptable from the standpoint of context, history, military interest, etc, there may be a queasyness lingering in the background from not quite knowing if any given buyer or transaction has a political motive rather than historical.
I understand buyers getting frustrated by the suspicion, but also understand why it is there. I imagine that in that collecting world, where people know each other much as we do here, it becomes clear that people aren't collecting Nazi items as a show of support because everyone can also see - via transactions and shows and such - that any individual also collects non-Nazi military items. Outsiders don't have the same insight to individuals, so there may often be that remote sense of not being quite positive about the outcome of a particular transaction.
So I wouldn't be offended, but I wouldn't put it in the auction either. There are no positive outcomes there - at least not for the auction. Good call Leon.
J