Etsy: The World’s Most Vibrant Nazi Memorabilia Marketplace
I got to give this guy credit; at least he didn’t say it was a Navajo peace symbol.
276 comments on Etsy: The World’s Most Vibrant Nazi Memorabilia Marketplace
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October 7, 2011 at 2:51 pm
My family has one of these~ and it was for having more than ONE~
Not much we can do about family history and the fact that they were forced into the military, but damn~ selling it on ETSY??? WTF?
October 7, 2011 at 2:51 pm
I always think it’s cool to see old artifacts, but I’m having trouble imagining what kind of collector would have specific need/want of this.
October 7, 2011 at 2:53 pm
I actually know quite a few people who collect Nazi memorabilia. They aren’t nazis, but they like the stuff.
October 7, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I hope it’s to build an army of Nazi zombies to fend off the army of Communist werewolves.
October 7, 2011 at 3:38 pm
If that’s not a B movie plot I don’t know what is!
October 7, 2011 at 4:28 pm
“Dead Snow” – a 2009 movie about Nazi Zombies in Norway attacking college kids who went skiing. No Commie werewolves, sadly.
October 7, 2011 at 4:31 pm
That was a terrible, terrible movie. I was so glad when those asshole college kids got eaten by zombies.
October 8, 2011 at 4:25 pm
the best part of that movie was at the start, when they let that guy into their cabin (he’s trying to warn them or something) and he snarks on their crappy, free-trade organic coffee…
October 7, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Well damn, for a second I was expecting a Wolfenstein reference.
October 7, 2011 at 6:20 pm
I have an ex who would love this… He really chafed my love everyone attitude!
October 7, 2011 at 9:25 pm
PensEnvy, I think I love you.
October 10, 2011 at 7:08 am
you’re right, you do
October 8, 2011 at 8:55 am
I have a friend who collects photographs of specific ghettos and camps. His family only had enough time and money to get his grandmother out of the country, and he wants to find out what happened to the rest of them.
October 7, 2011 at 2:55 pm
The market in WW2 Nazi memorabilia is actually HUGE. Not that I condone the sale of this or anything, but I’ve seen stuff at auctions that goes sky high.
(the whole auction thing is why I am somebidder, BTW)
October 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I thought selling Nazi memorabilia was against the law actually. I thought I saw it on one of those pawn reality shows my DH watches lol. I could be totally wrong or then again not try to learn things from reality tv….
October 7, 2011 at 3:27 pm
i saw it on pawn stars. They didnt take it because they thought it was spooky and didnt want it in the shop (i cant remember what the item was), but it is legal.
October 7, 2011 at 8:21 pm
I think that was actually a relic of a saint. Which, while not illegal to sell, is frowned upon by the church, and will get you excommunicated, I think.
October 7, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Excommunicated? Really? Does anyone have any saintly memorabilia I can…borrow…indefinitely?
October 7, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Completely legal, at least in the US. I can’t speak for other countries.
A lot of big shops won’t take it just because they don’t want to associate with it, for fairly obvious reasons. There’s a pretty big market for it, and it is a pretty significant piece of history.
October 7, 2011 at 4:00 pm
It is legal most places, except possibly Germany, where there are very strict laws against nazi symbolism.
I would possibly buy this or any other nazi medal. I despise fascism and racism, but as an enthusiast of the history, I like collecting stuff (e.g. I have a genuine early model Kar 98k just as a collectible; I think it even has a small swastika on it).
I view it as: people would collect coins from Caesar’s Rome or from Napoleon’s France out of collector’s interest, not out of political affiliation or ideology, and this isn’t any different. Not that I recommend showing this out of context.
October 7, 2011 at 6:13 pm
As far as I know you can buy Nazi stuff in Germany, but you can’t display it.
October 7, 2011 at 5:01 pm
It wouldn’t be visible on Etsy in France or Germany. I hope.
October 7, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Probably not. Nazi artifacts cannot be legally sold or bought in either country, and I know that at least Germany would not allow it to be on a German-registered site.
October 7, 2011 at 3:01 pm
People go nuts for war stuff, even if it’s on the wrong side. Seeing things like this don’t bother me, as it reminds me how absolutely awful the Nazi party was. I mean, it happened, it’s history-throwing this kind of thing out won’t make it unhappen.
October 7, 2011 at 7:33 pm
This takes care of my something old AND something blue for my WWII wedding.
October 7, 2011 at 2:51 pm
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October 7, 2011 at 2:57 pm
It is a beautiful piece, except for the subject matter. That’s enough for me to never want it, but a pin like this, from the 30s, with birds or flowers or something? My wallet would be tingling.
October 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I agree, I love “vintage.” This is from an era and time when they gassed children screaming for their parents. Those mothers didn’t get a medal.
October 7, 2011 at 3:53 pm
No, but they did get special patches to wear.
October 7, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Ouch. But I see what you did there.
October 7, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Though I don’t know if my grandmother got a special patch, being a Russian in a labor camp.
October 7, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Office Space: “You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair they made the Jews wear…”
October 7, 2011 at 3:12 pm
I have to agree. If it was from any other place at any other time, I would say it was a beautiful medal. It’s very well-designed and I particularly like that shade of blue. But the history behind the medal completely ruins it.
October 7, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Any other place at any other time? How about if it was given to Crusaders for slaughtering infidels? How about if it was given to the best Inquisitors, or to Inquisitors for burning fifty women at the stake? You really think Hitler’s Germany was the ONLY thing that taints whatever was affiliated with it?
Just because something originated for the wrong reasons doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have valid historical value.
October 7, 2011 at 5:15 pm
I thought infidels were non-Muslims.
So how many generations have to pass before we can stop being outraged? Can I have a Cro-Magnon artifact and still be morally superior? because, after all, they wiped the Neanderthals out of existence.
October 7, 2011 at 5:44 pm
@PBCGE: “Infidel” refers to any non-believer. So to the Christians fighting the Crusades, Muslims would have been classed as infidels.
But still, people do buy and sell antique/collectible shit all the time. I just don’t think Etsy’s the right place to be selling Nazi memorabilia. Historical significance and all.
October 7, 2011 at 6:59 pm
While people who collect medieval torture devices and things like that creep me the fuck out, you will never meet someone whose immediate family members were killed in the Crusades or burned at the stake.
Pre-modern history can be disturbing, sad, racist, creepy, and an indicator of bad things to come, but if you think it should have the same emotional impact as horrible events that people still alive can remember, you’re missing the point.
October 7, 2011 at 7:08 pm
The Cro-Magnons didn’t wipe the Neanderthals out, actually. They simply out-adapted them.
“Infidel” just means “someone who isn’t faithful [to the speaker's religion]“.
October 8, 2011 at 12:59 am
People are still quite passionate and emotional regarding events that took place in our recent (less than 100 years) history. Some of our families less than 2 generations lived and/or died when those tragic events occurred.
The farther away events are in history, the less of an emotional register it makes as a tragedy, regardless of it’s severity. Documentation and verification of events get more difficult farther back in history. If that makes any sense.
There will always be people, groups, races etc. that have a strong connection to their history and ancestry especially when significant genocides occurred, regardless of how far back in time those events took place.
Frankly, I’m not offended by this. Its a dark part of our history that should not be forgotten, so we don’t repeat it. But I don’t think it belongs on “Etsy”.
October 7, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Quick info about the “medal”:
The decoration could and was only to be bestowed to the most honourable proven mothers.[11] Accordingly, the following legislative prerequisites were to be strictly met:
a) that both parents of the children were “deutschblütig” (of German blood-heredity) and genetically-fit,[2]
b) that the mother of the decoration was indeed “worthy” of the decoration,[2] and
c) that the children were live births.[2]
They were “rewarded” for reproducing aryan children. And yes, people trying to make a buck off this thing are assholes. Donate it to the Holocaust museum or something.
October 7, 2011 at 3:14 pm
This mother was an under achiever. She only had to have 4-5 kids. If you had 8 boys in the war, Hitler would personally pin a gold one on you.
October 7, 2011 at 3:30 pm
my favorite thing about being declared “deutschblütig” was that hitler could–& did–actually declare selected quarter jews, half jews &, very rarely, full jews deutschblütig– thereby completely & utterly disregarding & discounting his stated ideals.
{this can be found in the meticulously researched book, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers by Bryan Mark Rigg, among others.}
my favorite thing about the abovenoted listing is that the guy just does not know his prices &, had i less of a conscience, i would pick that thing up for what he has priced at a song {we all know which song} & resell it. but i couldnt force myself to do it even if i did have the twenty five bucks.
my second favorite thing about it, if you can call it that, is that the guy says he’s 27 years old & calls himself “luftwaffe.”
i bet you could guess i was married to
athe jewish nazi, right? but the nazi part came after & because of, probably.oh heavens no.
October 7, 2011 at 3:32 pm
forty five bucks. apologies. i dont know to who, precisely. still.
October 7, 2011 at 3:42 pm
If I had the money, I’d buy it and donate it to the USHMM.
October 7, 2011 at 4:35 pm
The description says it’s for having kids in the army, not just for giving birth. Is the seller just making shit up?
October 7, 2011 at 5:16 pm
that’s what happens when you eat the coleslaw.
October 7, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Or freebase it.
October 7, 2011 at 5:00 pm
These weren’t terribly uncommon though, I can’t imagine a Holocaust museum wouldn’t already have a box of them. I totally get being grossed out by it but to me it’d be cool to be able to actually inspect a piece of history rather then peering at it behind glass. A gross piece of history granted but history all the same.
October 7, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Right, I mean, imagine being able to inspect and hold in your own hands a sword that was used by the Muslims against the Crusaders, or vice verse. It would be a much more moving experience than just seeing one in a museum, in my opinion. I would LOVE to have such a sword.
I think buying one of these for a private collection (as long as the seller isn’t using the money to support Nazi ideology) is completely acceptable.
October 8, 2011 at 2:53 pm
I agree, it’s the difference between reading a story about the war and hearing it from a vet. Of course you know it’s real and it happened either way but in the second instance it has a lot more impact.
October 7, 2011 at 3:41 pm
While I certainly don’t look down on or judge anyone who disagrees, I have a hard time finding any beauty in this. For me the history overshadows any aesthetic value. The seller’s description does seem… jarringly blithe, I guess.
October 7, 2011 at 5:15 pm
I’d agree. It’s in beautiful condition but that’s about as far as I would go. Much as I’m defending the idea of valuing -all- historical items rather then just the pretty ones, I couldn’t really call it aesthetically pleasing in good conscience. It is what it is and focusing on ‘oooo pretty enamel’ does sort of diminish its import.
October 7, 2011 at 2:51 pm
This thing would make a fabulous fascinator…you know, for all the Etsy Third Reich Wedding Receptions…..
October 7, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Genocide-chic is so last season.
October 7, 2011 at 2:57 pm
It’s making a come back. Hobo-chic isn’t going to last forever.
October 7, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Exactly…If depression era poverty is the in thing this season, it’s not too much of a stretch to expect that next season’s weddings will be ghetto themed. And then they’ll be celebrating all the cute ways my people suffered!
October 7, 2011 at 4:47 pm
You can assign special patches to all your guests! Who needs seating arrangements when you can part them up in groups.
October 7, 2011 at 4:59 pm
And those vertical stripes are SO slimming! Or maybe it’s just the starvation…
October 7, 2011 at 5:43 pm
I looked for an article on those medals and came across the chart for labeling patches. I also saw that they made women wear signs saying “I fornicate with Jews.”
October 7, 2011 at 9:43 pm
You’ll save a bundle on catering because your guests won’t be expecting to be fed!
October 7, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Last season is just earlier next-season.
I’d love to see the hatemail in response to the Regretsy post on that Wedding.
October 7, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Or get a dozen and use them to make your bouquet!
October 7, 2011 at 7:19 pm
What scares me is that I can totes see someone thinking this’d be a fun idea.
October 8, 2011 at 8:50 am
Well, “Hogan’s Heroes” got past under our social radar for many years.. why not?
October 7, 2011 at 2:52 pm
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October 7, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Actually, there are people who collect this stuff who AREN’T Nazi sympathizers. They collect it because it’s a part of history.
October 7, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Ducking stools, a hangmans noose, gas chambers, stocks etc etc.. all are part of the rich tapestry of history and I don’t think any of those are saleable items either *shrugs* Each to their own I guess
October 7, 2011 at 3:07 pm
But wouldn’t it be cool to have a rack or a set of real stocks in your basment?
I wouldn’t use them on anyone but it would be amazing to get a real close look at one of those pieces.
I guess that’s why museums have them rather than destroying them upon discovery.
People do crazy crap and trying to understand why is interesting to say bthe least. Nazi stuff is xtra cool because of the contraband factor. I wouldn’t own it but I can see why someone would want to.
October 7, 2011 at 3:11 pm
“But wouldn’t it be cool to have a rack or a set of real stocks in your basment?”
You mean, you don’t??
October 7, 2011 at 3:16 pm
I saw a stock at our local reservist center a couple of weeks ago (we were there for a veterans appreciation luncheon). My husband said it probably belonged to the sailors.
October 7, 2011 at 6:35 pm
I grew up in a village that still has stocks. We don’t still use them for official punishments, but we did used to leave each other locked in them when we were kids, and then again when we were drunken teens. They are still standing there in full working order at one side of the village square.
I did grow up in rural England though, where things haven’t changed a great deal in the last few centuries…
October 7, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Everything is sellable. And you could easily argue that everything is history. I’m not really into collecting things like racks and iron maidens, but I don’t collect floral teacups either. But I can see how both would have their strange appeal.
October 7, 2011 at 3:20 pm
IRON MAIDEN!!!!!!!
Powerslave just went through my head
October 7, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I guess I just don’t get “collections” per se then. I buy stuff because it appeals to me, invokes a positive emotion or memory and not just because those things I buy are all belonging to a particular theme.
Yes I have heard of and visit museums, I just don’t think Etsy is their first port of call for making purchases. My bad, I should have made it more clear in my original post that I didn’t think such an item would be considered saleable in the general etsy aimed demographic.
October 7, 2011 at 3:55 pm
People like being able to hold a piece of history their hands, no matter what part of history the item came from.
There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose, and if a person can deal with it, more power to them. As for me, you’d never catch me owning anything Nazi-related because I wouldn’t want that energy anywhere near me.
October 7, 2011 at 5:02 pm
@Bitcheslovecrafts
Killers over here.
October 7, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Plenty of places will buy such things (well, except for gas chambers, which aren’t exactly transportable). There’s these wonderful inventions called “museums” that would love to get their hands on such things.
If there’s any private collectors out there (and I’m sure there are, a lot of wealthy people who are historically-minded (an adjective I just made up that sounds really good) are interested in the preservation of historical artifacts), I’d imagine they’d buy any of those things as well.
October 7, 2011 at 3:58 pm
he could be in Compare and Save… as the savings…
this guy here has a lot of the
NaziGerman Mother Crosses for sale from 99.00 to 4999.00.That’s who will buy this thing, then turn around and sell it to God knows who for why.
I guess this isn’t the kind of thing you want in your family heirlooms..
October 7, 2011 at 3:59 pm
sorry…here’s the link, if anyone wants it.
http://www.snyderstreasures.com/pages/motherscross.htm
October 7, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Yeah, I like how he goose-steps around the issue by not mentioning Nazis in his listing.
November 18, 2012 at 10:26 pm
I agree. It’s easy for us to say we aren’t offended. We weren’t involved! If we had been closer to the atrocities committed we would very likely be offended. What I don’t understand is why anyone would, even for ‘benign’ collecting purposes, want to own an item that is associated with so much suffering.
November 18, 2012 at 10:28 pm
(@celery)
October 7, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I just looked and his seller name is luftwaffe1944 maybe not a sympathizer but a glamorizer?
October 8, 2011 at 6:04 am
He says he’s 27. Probably just pig-ignorant about anything that happened before he was born, and thinks of Nazis as a fun enemy in video games.
October 8, 2011 at 7:06 am
theres a difference?
October 8, 2011 at 7:06 am
theres a difference?
October 7, 2011 at 4:10 pm
I knew a Jewish guy who collected Nazi memoribilia. I found it odd the first time I walked into his house and saw a huge Nazi flag hanging on the wall of the den (him being Jewish and all). Turns out, his grandmother took the flag off a tank when Holland (if I remember correctly) was liberated by the Allies.
October 7, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Awesome. I’d hang that with pride too if my Nan had taken it off a tank.
October 8, 2011 at 9:06 am
I have a lot of Jewish and British friends who are fascinated by memorabilia from that era; several have said that they were terrified by the stories from their parents/grandparents (and rightfully so), and seeing the stuff of nightmares reduced to knickknacks on a shelf (especially the ‘glorious, powerful empire’ propaganda) gives them a certain sense of satisfaction.
October 8, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Yeah, I think the one case where having Nazi memorabilia is OK is if you or a close relative personally took it off a Nazi. My grandfather used to have some patches, a dagger with a swastika on the handle, and I think I vaguely remember some sort of 3rd-Reich commemorative liquor bottle, that he got from dead or captured Nazis during the war. (Pearlheartgtr’s friend’s story is a lot better than any of his, though.)
October 7, 2011 at 2:52 pm
As…um, special… as that is, at least this item can be accurately described as vintage? I’m pretty sure he did not have Chinese orphans run him off a box of 200 of them last week.
October 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm
oh there are reproductions of this available as well.
October 7, 2011 at 2:52 pm
On the plus side it’s truly vintage and not available for $9.99 Alibaba.
October 7, 2011 at 2:52 pm
on*
October 7, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Aww, Purple, same joke but yours had the better execution. Kudos!
October 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Whimsically fucked minds and all that?
October 7, 2011 at 2:57 pm
“minds think alike” even… I saved all my derps for that reply I guess!
October 7, 2011 at 2:53 pm
http://www.etsy.com/listing/81241277/ww2-american-purple-heart-medal-with
He’s also selling a purple heart in his shop. It’s one thing to sell a medal formerly owned by a woman with the ability to push 4+ nazis out of her twat. It’s another thing altogether to sell a medal awarded to someone (or that someone’s family) who sustained grievous bodily harm in the name of their country.
Oh…um…I mean something funny.
October 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm
I believe that many will frown upon the sale of a Purple Heart, especially in a day where people will parade around, pretending to be Medal of Honor or PH awardees for the benefits–which IS illegal, by the way. As is pretending to be a military veteran for the sole purpose of reaping benefits or gaining profits.
October 7, 2011 at 3:03 pm
My first read on this, I could swear you said “for the sole purpose of raping benefits’ organ profits.”
:-/ I think I need glasses.
Or maybe more liquor.
October 7, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Beer goggles. Cheaper than prescription glasses, and far more enjoyable.
October 7, 2011 at 2:59 pm
. . .John Kerry joke?
October 7, 2011 at 3:17 pm
October 7, 2011 at 3:54 pm
There’s a Heinz joke here, but I have a friend named Heinz so I won’t do it.
And Senator Heinz died near where I grew up, only a few miles from Hobo Wedding National Regretsy Meme Site.
October 7, 2011 at 5:22 pm
I love you.
October 7, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I don’t have an issue with people collecting medals from the descendants of vets who don’t want them, this says it was in an estate sale.
A collector will appreciate and treasure such a medal, and take care of it and understand the meaning.
However there are crazy people who will try to say they earned it-that’s disrespectful. Owning something doesn’t always mean disrespecting the memory
October 7, 2011 at 3:10 pm
I thought about that after I made the post but the thought of a family not wanting to keep that heirloom makes me incredibly sad. Angry is better than sad. >:(
October 7, 2011 at 3:15 pm
In this economy, it’s entirely likely that they sold it to help Granddad afford his meds, or to help the heir pay their bills while unemployed. I know I have sold anything and everything I could, just to put food on the table while the economy is crap. It happens, and while sad, there is always the hope that the Purple Heart will go to someone who will appreciate the sacrifices behind it, both by the one who earned it, and the one who made the hard decision to sell it.
October 7, 2011 at 3:22 pm
I’m the exact opposite. Maybe that’s why the idea of selling a purple heart bothers me as much as it does. I grew up poor and I have the mentality that you shouldn’t ever sell your pride or your heirlooms. My dad’s couch surfing right now (at the moment it’s less surfing and more staying in one place due to recent surgery…but that’s neither here nor there) . He lives off of some disability and the kindness of old friends & family.
I have several antiques that were his mother’s. He entrusted them to me because he had nowhere safe to keep them. If I sold them, I’d probably have enough to buy him a new(ish) truck. I’d never consider it and neither would he.
I guess it’s all about how you were raised and how much your family values history.
October 7, 2011 at 4:12 pm
We also can’t rule out the possibility that there were no descendants. Or that the medal was… misappropriated at some point.My grandparent’s house was broken into when I was a kid and among the things stolen were a “bathtub Mary” (later found abandoned on the side of the road) and my grandfather’d purple heart.
It took until after his death for them to replace it..
October 7, 2011 at 9:46 pm
The sentimental value of any Thing depends on whether your need is a new truck, or your next meal (or prescription).
October 8, 2011 at 6:18 am
You can never sell your pride, your memories, or your history. These have nothing to do with material objects.
In the last analysis, even the most treasured possessions are only lumps of matter. There are a lot of things I own that I would hate to lose, but they’re not as important as (say) keeping a roof over our heads or food in our stomachs.
My father died in a ramshackle house crammed with stuff. I really wish he could have brought himself to sell it off before he died, to be able to afford a better life while he could enjoy it.
Go to a general auction some time and you’ll get a whole new perspective on just how little meaning your stuff retains after you’ve gone.
October 7, 2011 at 3:53 pm
“… the thought of a family not wanting to keep that heirloom makes me incredibly sad.”
I’ve got mixed feelings on that. A part of me hates to see a family’s history discarded. But, in my experience at least, some family histories might be better off that way.
October 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm
If my father had any medals he can shove them up his ass for all I care.
Still sad, I guess, but in a different way.
October 7, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Sorry if you don’t like it but the fact is that not all veterans are awesome sweet old guys who deserve to have their history remembered and cherished.
October 7, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Yeah, you and SweetPea below pretty much described what I meant. While there were no medals involved, when my DH’s grandmother died, none of his family wanted any heirlooms. I salvaged a very old and ornate Bible with family records written in it from the dumpster–that’s how bad it was. I only met the woman once, but from that one experience plus going through TONS of personal papers after her death (looking for legal stuff; she wasn’t a filer), I could see she was an awful person. And supposedly she’d mellowed out a lot since her husband died. =\
October 7, 2011 at 7:46 pm
My husband’s bio-dad was a real piece of work (he bankrupted his own mother after his dad got sick for the last time) but when he died, my husband liked having his Marine sword as an heirloom, more for its own sake than for his. He was very upset when his studio got broken into and it was stolen.
October 7, 2011 at 4:39 pm
While it is sad when the soldier that received the Purple Heart was a good and honest person.
However, I personally know one person who received the award and although he was a brave soldier when he was younger, he turned in to a straight-up-asswagon in his later years. He beat his wife and disowned his daughter when she came out to him.
When he died a few years ago you bet your ass his wife pawned that damn thing.
October 7, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Being brave doesn’t mean your not an ass. However, after saying that, I hope he was a dick and not just suffering untreated PTSD. Cause then I’d feel bad.
October 7, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Untreated PTSD doesn’t make you a bigot.
October 7, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Meant more the beating of the wife thing. I misread the disowning of daughter bit.
October 8, 2011 at 6:29 am
Since Vietnam, the US Army has handed out medals like popcorn. (Though I hear they’ve tightened up a bit recently, mainly because it was getting too expensive to make them all.)
A Purple Heart is the least valued medal. They call it “the reward for forgetting to duck”. It’s given for any wound received while in a theatre of war, not necessarily a battle wound. In Vietnam, my husband saw a US soldier awarded a Purple Heart for getting an infected splinter in his toe.
If the original owner is still alive, it’s possible that he was awarded three (the maximum) and is happy to part with one or two. It’s also possible that he doesn’t want the memories it stirs up, and would rather have it out of his house.
If he’s dead, then (as mentioned above) there might not even be any family, or none close enough to be bothered.
October 8, 2011 at 9:04 am
Things that can make you turn into an ass-wagon as you get older:
Alzheimer’s
Strokes
Atherosclerosis
MG
MS
but not MSG
alcoholism
syphilis
… and lots more.
And yeah, they wipe out the inhibition centers so racist, sexist, sexual, and violent thoughts are poorly modulated.
Every person is different and there’s no denying the pain they can cause.
October 7, 2011 at 3:07 pm
I can’t tell you how many war medals I’ve seen for sale in antique shops. It’s sad that a family didn’t want to keep it, but in reality, a lot of people die alone and poor, and people just ship all their crap out, even if it is an amazing piece of family and US history. I would almost buy this since my grandfather was buried with his and no one asked my dad if he wanted it.
October 7, 2011 at 3:16 pm
It is sad they don’t keep them as family memorabilia. But let’s face it, not all of us feel much connection to our families or history anymore. There are some things of my dad’s that I’ll be keeping from his turn in the war, but I barely knew one grandfather and didn’t know the other, so I feel less attachment to their items. And if it’s already feeling distant to me, I can only imagine what my kids will think. At least it if goes to a collector or a museum it will be appreciated.
October 7, 2011 at 10:10 pm
There are also those who probably do not quite appreciate the medals they’ve earned. I know if my dad had earned any medals he probably would have melted them down to make parts to fix what ever project he was working on at the time. Hell, for all I know he did earn a medal and tossed it out with the trash. If you can’t tell, he was drafted and did not exactly enjoy his time in the service(that whole being a hippie thing probably didn’t help).
October 7, 2011 at 3:20 pm
I’m actually ordering replacements of my husband’s medals, that way, when he dies, he can be buried with the ones he received in the Navy, and I can keep a set to be displayed. Your dad might be able to talk to the VA to get one for display/sentimental reasons.
October 7, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Any idea if a child of a veteran can order replacement medals? At a cost, I fully expect. I divided up my father’s among my siblings and I have all my father’s U.S. army memorabilia (paperwork, prayer book, etc.) and would like to display it.
October 7, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Veterans/family are entitled to one free replacement of earned medals. I believe you can go through the branch served and/or the VA for the process.
October 7, 2011 at 10:56 pm
This is the VA’s page on replacing medals, decorations, records, etc.:
http://www.va.gov/opa/publications/benefits_book/benefits_chap14.asp
October 9, 2011 at 11:23 am
@Stallingsja: Thank you SO much for the information!
October 7, 2011 at 4:25 pm
I had to replace my grandfather’s medals as well, he lost them somewhere along the way. In my experience most military surplus stores are really helpful and will actually order a replacement for you. My grandfather’s were all weird medals I didn’t know how to find but with a glance at his discharge papers they were able to order them all. Good luck to you, it’d be lovely for your dad I’m sure.
October 7, 2011 at 5:30 pm
NEVER thought of Army surplus stores! Wonderful idea.
October 7, 2011 at 5:41 pm
I hadn’t either! I was just looking for a hat but the sales staff was so helpful. They even went through and explained them all to me and then showed me comparable ones before I ordered the specific medals he was awarded. Highly recommend it!
October 7, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Five words for that seller- Stolen Valor Act of 2005.
October 7, 2011 at 3:56 pm
I guess it’s in what you plan to do with it.
Just like the stuff they sold during Prohibition whose instructions said “don’t do this, this, and this, or it will turn into beer.”
October 8, 2011 at 2:47 am
That’s like daring people to make alcohol.
October 8, 2011 at 9:09 am
That was sort of the point of those instructions. ‘Hey, we told them how NOT to make it!’ *wink*
October 7, 2011 at 2:53 pm
mother führer!
October 7, 2011 at 2:53 pm
4 to 5 of my kids died for the Fatherland, and all I got was this lousy medal…
October 7, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Probably should be in a museum rather than on Etsy…
October 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm
That is my big issue here. There are WWII Memorials and Museums (there was even a small one in my High School which was kind of odd) and historical collectors websites, even ebay, that would make more sense for the sale of a piece like this. Its like someone would be browsing through etsy and wonder hmmm should I spend my money on a Nazi Mother pin or on a realistically hairy steampunk penis pin?
October 7, 2011 at 3:05 pm
They might spend their money on the Nazi Mother pin and then incorporate it into their realisically hairy steampunk penis pin…
October 7, 2011 at 3:05 pm
The correct answer is always penis.
October 7, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Or alternatively, vagina.
October 7, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Genitalia for simplicity’s sake.
October 7, 2011 at 11:43 pm
It isn’t really a museum piece, though I don’t think it belongs on Etsy. It’s a rather common medal and it’s not complete. (I only know this because my grandfather brought about 5 of them back after WWII and I was researching them recently.)
October 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm
My former father in law had a mannequin wearing an authentic Nazi SS uniform greeting you as you walked into the shop he owned. He was an eccentric man.
October 7, 2011 at 3:10 pm
I first read that as Monkey wearing an authentic….
That would have been so much better. Lancelot Link!
October 7, 2011 at 8:40 pm
I love you. Lancelot Link (Secret Chimp) was one of my favorites growing up! I loved Mata Hairy’s outfits.
October 10, 2011 at 8:37 am
Stands for justice! Has no fear! He’s the agent to call when trouble is near!
October 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Yep, I’d display that proudly between my autographed picture of Ted Bundy and my commemorative Stalin sampler.
October 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm
In Soviet Russia, Stalin staples you on time!
October 7, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Derp. I see “sampler” now, as opposed to “stapler” when I hit reply. Drinking before noon for the win?
October 7, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Don’t worry, I saw “stapler,” too. And I don’t drink.
October 7, 2011 at 4:12 pm
I saw stapler as well. And I haven’t had anything to drink in the last few hours.
October 7, 2011 at 4:15 pm
I too saw stapler, and I haven’t had a drink in weeks… I hope to remedy that this weekend.
October 7, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Hurrah for group psychosis, then?
October 7, 2011 at 3:07 pm
And your commemorative Armenian mug
October 8, 2011 at 10:09 am
I don’t know. I bet Stalin staplers would sell.
October 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm
I would like to say that I doubt the seller is trying to put a positive face on the Nazis. There’s a huge group of collectors that buy this stuff for various reasons. The medal is nicely done, even if it is extremely offensive to most people in terms of what it stands for.
The upside is that this guy didn’t craft a few dozen of them, and put them out there as something whimsicle/whimsical/whimsikkle that you should use as party favors at your nephew’s bar mitzvah. So, you know, there’s that.
October 7, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Agreed!
October 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I agree, but I’m less sure about the seller since I clicked and found out his Etsy name is Luftwaffe1944.
October 7, 2011 at 3:40 pm
this piece so belongs in a museum – or with a written explanation as to what it is besides a pretty ornament. It gives me the creeps.
As to the names.. I also searched for Adam Fuller, the name behind Luftwaffe1944.
And I stumbled across (not our guy, I’m pretty sure) a blog of a 30 something Adam Fuller’s trip to Poland, visiting some WWII spots – this Adam Fuller is Jewish.
Also found another Luftwaffe1944′s Photobucket – he doesn’t seem to be Etsy Luftwaffe1944, but he’s Japanese and has a picture of WWII German officer and a Japanese officer.
All of which means nothing except to say people and their motivations are so strange, who knows what is going on.
Perhaps he’ll visit us here and share.
October 7, 2011 at 4:18 pm
I thought of that too. But then again, there are certain members of the German army that I respect as soldiers (and some even as people – like Kurt Knispel). The Luftwaffe was the world’s greatest air force at the beginning of the war and produced unrivaled aces.
As a somewhat related example, I (briefly) helped program a game called Panzer Commander, which I also played. In it you can play as the Germans. We don’t do it out of any ideological motivation, though.
October 7, 2011 at 3:02 pm
That party would be a very _exciting_ event. O.o
October 7, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Right up until Rabbi Katz went bat-shit crazy, and Uncle Hiram had a heart attack.
October 7, 2011 at 2:57 pm
There’s definitely a market for Nazi memorabilia. I just think that it’s a bit strange that it’s on Etsy.
October 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Maybe there’s a niche Jewish hipster market that we don’t know about.
October 7, 2011 at 3:07 pm
We don’t know about it because it’s so not mainstream.
It’d certainly be ironic. . . Yeah, I can legitimately see it being a stereotypical-self-hating-ironic-hipster-jew-cult classic.
October 7, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Actually, I’ve read of Jews who collect Nazi memorabilia out of a sense of triumph, of standing up to the images and owning them. That may not make sense, and I’m not Jewish (or connected to any ethnicity that was the victim of genocide), so I can’t imagine the emotions behind it. I’m NOT criticizing those collectors. I believe they have found a way of facing the past and dealing with it on their own terms.
October 8, 2011 at 9:12 am
I know quite a few of those, and can totally understand those motivations.
October 7, 2011 at 10:18 pm
I’ve actually met one of those…she even had a Hitler mustache tattooed on her finger. She could hold her finger under her nose and have a little Hitler mustache. Yeah, she was Jewish.
October 7, 2011 at 3:01 pm
oh I agree – his shop looks like he is an ebay refugee.
October 7, 2011 at 3:16 pm
that’s because ebay made it verboten…
October 7, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Ich sehe was Sie dort gemacht.
October 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
October 7, 2011 at 3:01 pm
I see tons of Nazi shiz @ the flea and antique markets here in LA.
The purple heart should be donated to a museum or something.
October 7, 2011 at 10:31 pm
What museum? I have no doubt there’s a jillion of purple heart medals floating around out there, and putting one in a museum illustrates nothing.
October 7, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Did anyone notice his icon is Gran Torino?
October 7, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Maybe it is really Clint selling stuff from the trunk in his basement, so his stupid granddaughter doesn’t get it.
October 7, 2011 at 3:20 pm
What I like even better is that this is his banner:
October 7, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Hm, this is also my husband’s evil ex-wife’s Myspace profile picture. I wonder…
October 7, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Giving out medals for getting knocked up a half dozen times is what made the homeland secure.
October 7, 2011 at 3:08 pm
It’s why Russia lost the the Cold War.
October 7, 2011 at 3:21 pm
It’s also why Russia won out in WWII. They had the sheer overwhelming numbers… and more cold tolerance. Vodka solves everything.
October 7, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Vodka solves everything
I’m adding this to my list of samplers-to-be-made. Thanks!
October 7, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Thank you for supporting my theory that vodka makes winners.
October 7, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Most women just get the joys of being an unpaid in family domestic servant. A medal is a nice touch.
October 7, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Keeps ‘em in the Kitchen!
October 7, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Somewhere I saw one of the old propaganda films which showed babies on a conveyor belt with beautiful blonde German women tending to them with the encouragement of women to have babies with their strong, brave aryan soldiers. This would go perfectly in a set with a dvd.
October 7, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Things of this nature are squicky and dubious, but, to be fair…they are historic and there is a lot of interest in them. I would put it in the same category as things like this:
Available here, with tags that include “negro,” “mammy,” “WATERMELON,” and a ridiculously misinformed “civil rights.” There are a lot of items like this on Etsy, most of which are labeled “Black Americana” even though it was typically less-than-forward-thinking white people (the type who were big fans of blackface minstrel shows,) who made and/or purchased such things.
I find it’s easier to just shake my head and pour myself another glass of wine, rather than getting all upset about it.
October 7, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Totally didn’t mean for all that to be in boldface. :/
Too muchnot enough Riesling.October 7, 2011 at 3:26 pm
I thought the bold was for emphasis so people would read it before thumbing you down in a storm of rage.
October 7, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Okay, yeah. Let’s go with that.
October 7, 2011 at 4:45 pm
The bold kinda makes it look like it’s in blackface.
October 7, 2011 at 8:43 pm
I feel better knowing I’m not the only one who thought that.
October 7, 2011 at 8:57 pm
I am glad to know that 2 other people thought this.
October 8, 2011 at 6:35 am
Make that 3.
October 8, 2011 at 1:08 am
I want Riesling please?
October 7, 2011 at 3:43 pm
I see stuff like this and want to do some kind of a WTF in bold but my bold isn’t even bold enough to express it.
October 7, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Whoopi Goldberg calls this “negrobilia”
October 7, 2011 at 9:42 pm
Spike Lee has a huge collection of “negrobilia”, it is popular among African Americans. My cousin has a bunch of it, she says it reminds her of how much better things have gotten.
October 8, 2011 at 9:16 am
The market’s changed a lot since these things were made, and they’ve become quite popular with black collectors.
October 8, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Um…Nazi memorabilia is quite popular with people who collect Nazi memorabilia.
Your definition of “quite popular” may be somewhat skewed.
Being a Black American who happens to know a number of other Black Americans, I can safely assure you that the number of Black people who want this stuff is relatively small.
October 7, 2011 at 3:25 pm
What gets me about this isn’t that it’s Nazi memorabilia. What gets me is that it’s Nazi memorabilia sold by a guy named Luftwaffe1944.
October 7, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Seriously. There are totally legit collectors and dealers out there who aren’t Nazi sympathizers. But then some buttnugget, who claims to be in it just for the history, turns out to be one, and we all eat our words for giving him the benefit of the doubt.
October 7, 2011 at 3:46 pm
And after that you still go on with ur life. I’m ok with being mistaken. He can be hitler’s love child for all it matters. I’m still a decent person either way
October 7, 2011 at 3:29 pm
I acquired a deposit stamp from the KKK. I don’t know where my x got it from, but he left it here. I threw it away. When he remembered it years later and asked about it, I had no guilt about it, nor did not hesitate to tell him I tossed it. I am sure there is/was collector value to it, but I thought I put it in the most appropriate place. On the other hand, I also acquired a handful of German coins with Swastikas on them, and something that looks like a poker chip – a very old one with a Swastika on it. I know that they too have collector value of some measure, but I am reluctant to try to sell them. If I had a clue who to donate them to I would.
October 7, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Try the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Wash, DC- http://www.ushmm.org/
October 7, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Thank you Kestris, I will.
October 8, 2011 at 6:41 am
The “poker chip” is probably a good-luck token and nothing at all do to with Germany.
Remember that the swastika is an ancient solar symbol (depicting the four directions of heaven moving in a circle). It was a common good-luck motif before the Nazis appropriated it, right up there with the horseshoe and four-leaf clover.
A discussion of the swastika as a lucky charm:
http://www.luckymojo.com/swastika.html
Lucky coins, including some with swastikas:
http://www.luckymojo.com/goodluckcoins.html
October 8, 2011 at 6:43 am
PS – If you still don’t want the good-luck piece, I’ll happily take it off your hands!
The actual German coins would be best marketed to coin collectors, or sold to a coin dealer. I doubt if any would be of interest to a museum.
October 7, 2011 at 3:33 pm
This is a bargain! That thing is in excellent condition. *Wie neu!*
Surely there must be a huge market for these things.
October 7, 2011 at 4:04 pm
there is some market…I put a link further up to some guy who sells these for more.
October 7, 2011 at 3:43 pm
I fall on the “it’s a piece of history, even if disgusting” side of this one. Right in line with the “Mammy” stuff. I hope both of those things go to collectors interested in preserving history (we should remember the good, bad and ugly) not people who celebrate the message, though it’s impossible to control whose hands they end up in. (Did I use “whose” properly? That one always throws me.)
October 7, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Sorry bout the thumbs doen, this tablet sucks with my fat fingers.
October 7, 2011 at 4:39 pm
@KrazyKat: You’re 100% right–history should be preserved, and not just the pretty stuff. I’m reading “Killing Lincoln” right now (tried to avoid it, thinking Bill O’Reilly was writing historical fiction, but he has a co-author who’s a historian and it’s fact, just written to read more dramatically than a standard history book, but I digress). The descriptions of the battles
October 7, 2011 at 4:44 pm
(Keyboard has a mind of its own, sorry).
Gave me a moment to think–forget the descriptions of the battles, except to say they’re not pruriant but are very disturbing, and not simply because men died and towns were decimated. History should never be whitewashed or glossed over, but you’re right–it shouldn’t be forgotten and the worst of it shouldn’t be celebrated.
October 7, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Yes, “whose” is the possessive.
October 7, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Yes, and it’s rare to see it used properly these days. If you believe that a sentence shouldn’t end in a preposition, though, it should read “in whose hands they end up”. Wait, up is a preposition. “Up in whose hands they should end.” There, all fixed. /lengthy and unfunny grammar joke.
October 7, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Reminds me of a scene from “Frasier,” one of my all-time favorite shows. Martin (the dad) is writing something (a letter, perhaps, I can’t recall) and Niles looks over his shoulder and corrects him. Several times. Finally Martin, thoroughly pissed, writes a two-word message for Niles and shows him the paper. Niles: “The second word is a preposition.”
October 7, 2011 at 6:12 pm
My favorite opinion on the preposition position issue, allegedly from Winston Churchill: “It is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.”
October 8, 2011 at 6:56 am
My favourite is the one about the mother planning to read her little girl a bedtime story. The mother selected a storybook and went upstairs to the girl’s bedroom, but it was a book the child didn’t like.
Whereupon the little girl said, “What did you bring that book I didn’t want to be read to out of up for?”
October 7, 2011 at 3:45 pm
It’s a vintage symbol of past fuckery.
Next, desaturated (you call it sepia!) prints of photos Civil War dead, Vietnamese sniper ammo casings made into statement necklaces, and a World War I era pottery jug that once held hooch for the boys in the trenches, now used as a vase for sweet paper poppies!
October 7, 2011 at 4:53 pm
I dated a guy in college (briefly!!) who wore a Korean sniper bullet on a necklace… yeah, he didn’t last long… at least he looked like the love child of Jesus and Chris Cornell (what? I was high!… shut up)
October 8, 2011 at 9:19 am
I’d stick poppies in that hooch bottle. Seeing it, and the liquor inside it, was probably the bright point of those boys’ day/night, so may as well put those remembrance poppies in something that made them happy.
October 7, 2011 at 3:52 pm
And just in time for Yom Kippur.
October 7, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Goes great with a swastika yamaka (sold separately)
Tags: Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, Passover, Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Jews, matzo balls
October 7, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Forgot Steampunk and Steve Jobs.
October 7, 2011 at 4:20 pm
We should just make it one category “StevePunk”.
October 7, 2011 at 4:22 pm
It’s times like these that I wish I knew how to use Photoshop. You should see the images in my head right now.
October 7, 2011 at 8:46 pm
If it were within my artistic ability, I’d make you a clockwork apple.
Anyone?
October 7, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Searched “Nazi” on Etsy out of curiosity.
This my was favorite WTF result: http://www.etsy.com/listing/81355923/heidi-klum-from-project-runway-silver?ref=sr_gallery_12&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=nazi&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_page=3&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=
October 7, 2011 at 10:28 pm
She is clearly a nazi. You can tell from all the times she invaded Poland.
October 7, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Five kids in the German army?
Sounds like Der Fighting Sullivans.
October 7, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Guess what Mom, got your Mother’s Day gift already. A German crotchfruit cross. Hop that it doesn’t class with your preserved placenta pendant.
October 7, 2011 at 4:11 pm
I’m a little hesitant to say this due to the vitriol piling up ahead of this comment but I would totally buy this if I found it in a junk shop or something. I’m not any kind of Nazi sympathizer but it’s historic. My grandfather had this strange card game from that era where the objective was killing Americans, his stepfather brought it home from WW2 along with SS patches and the like and I kept those too. Obviously the Nazi rhetoric is horrific but does that really mean nothing from that era has any value? I collect them for the same reason I keep Daguerreotypes, antiquated things interest me *shrugs*.
October 7, 2011 at 4:20 pm
I don’t know, Hatesbee… I think some of us feel a special nausea for this particular item because of the tie in to Motherhood being for White Anglo Saxon Producers, and previously mentioned murder of Jewish mothers and the throwing of their living babies into fires and stuff.
Maybe I’m only speaking for myself when I say it makes me a little …what’s the word… ver clempt. Or maybe I mean meshuginna.. what do I know, I’m not Jewish.
I like to think I would not have wanted a medal for that, I hope and pray.
As “memorabilia” its kind of like a KKK member passing down the white hoodie.
October 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm
And I can totally see that, I mean frankly even mine aren’t on display. I don’t need someone seeing them out of context and drawing conclusions. They’re with the rest of his war-time items. I am absolutely not saying that it’s wrong to feel squicky about it. It’s inherently a squicky item from an awful time period. I’d not buy this online because I’d not search for it but frankly -anything- from ww2 I find in any junk shop anywhere I’m purchasing it.
I understand your comparison but disagree. I’m not inheriting Nazi items from a Nazi you know? Kid with a shaved head hands it to me and shouts ‘Heil Hitler’? It’s going in the trash. In fairness though, your comparison is a little apt because if I unearthed a civil war era KKK hood in a junk shop or estate sale or something I -would- keep it because to me, it’s historical. A modern day one would just be yucky for me.
October 7, 2011 at 4:56 pm
what I like about this is that we can agree to disagree without getting all crazy name-calling about it.
Are we being unAmerican?
October 7, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Possibly but high fives for us anyway. We are totally going to get extra graham crackers and juice at snack time for being civilized on the internet.
October 7, 2011 at 6:21 pm
I’ve had just about enough of you two and your civility. This is the internet! If you’re not going to have a meltdown at a complete stranger for having a different opinion then you should just leave!
October 7, 2011 at 7:07 pm
I refuse to rage-face on command Joey-oh-so-many-j’s but all the same, a tip of the imaginary hat to -you- sah.
October 7, 2011 at 6:11 pm
verklempt
October 7, 2011 at 7:32 pm
verklemmt
October 7, 2011 at 6:29 pm
I think some people in my family may still have some of my great grandfather’s medals. He definitely had an iron cross from WWI but I’m pretty sure he also had some kind of Nazi medal because I own several family portraits that are conveniently cut off right above the chest. If I found them I would definitely keep them, which doesn’t mean I condone whatever actions stand behind this, but it is a part of my family’s history, whether I like it or not. Of course it wouldn’t be proudly displayed, though.
October 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm
I’m with you. I collect ancient Roman coins, arrowheads, and other small artifacts (can’t afford much) because the era intrigues me. If I had the money, there’s be a whole lot more era’s I’d buy artifacts from, including WW2. History just intrests me.
October 7, 2011 at 4:43 pm
I so feel you on the coins. I’ve been eyeing Roman torques and Victorian hair jewelry for years. Why can’t my income match my zeal for acquiring?!
October 7, 2011 at 4:53 pm
There are Egyptian scarabs I’d love to get my hands on except the ones of decent quality are just a touch troo much for me.
October 7, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Thank goodness I’ve not been drawn in that direction yet (I imagine Egyptian artifacts -would- be viciously expensive). I’ve had my fill of bidding against museums, they always snatch fossils out of my hands at the last possible moment. Here’s hoping they blink and a good one slips by them, right into your grubby little hands! *laughs*
October 7, 2011 at 4:19 pm
My father was in WWII and was awarded many medals for various campaigns and the like, but because they weren’t the big ones (Purple Heart, or the biggest, Congressional Medal of Honor), he had to send letters to the War Department to apply for them. Took decades. They finally arrived, a few months after he died. Bastards.
When my mom passed away I divided them up among my siblings, but have thought about buying the “missing” ones from eBay, to have a complete set, but haven’t gotten around to it.
Never considered Etsy would be a possible source. What the hell.
I never considered Etsy to be a source of WWII medals, but what the hell.
October 7, 2011 at 4:34 pm
I found a 6 WWII medals on Etsy…and 5 were “repurposed” with clock parts and jewels obscuring all but the outer edge (“so pretty!”), as steampunk and one is even identified as a “time machine.” The twatwaffle seller even asks if you wouldn’t love to travel through time. Yes, yes, I would and I would render your grandparents sterile so your parents would never be born and you wouldn’t be their crotchfruit.
That stupid twit states this on the Chinese medal (she has no clue what the medal is for):
“I love the great pentagon shape, the art deco design and the mysterous Chinese characters around the edge. I can just imagine that this medal was loved and worn for the last 60 years!”
I wonder if she’d have reservations making a nice steampunk necklace from this Nazi medal. Hell, just add a few clock parts, a pretty chain, and all the bad memories go away.
Sorry to go on.
/rant
October 7, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Repurposed? I supposed the men and/or women who fought (and may have died) for their respective countries were hoping something crafty would come from their blood, sweat, and tears one day.
October 7, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Wow, now that makes me want to vomit. It’s on the same level of disrespectful as cutting up antique quilts for place mats or whatever.
October 7, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Only time I could ever see cutting up an antique handmade quilt would be if it had been used and loved until it all but fell apart, and then only to frame a square of it, perhaps with a picture of the quilter alongside, as a memento of both her and her work.
October 8, 2011 at 9:24 am
I bought a box lot of 1930s feedsacks at an auction recently for next to nothing, and at the bottom was a handmade crazy quilt. She’s in very poor condition with water damage, tears and shattered silk; I can’t repair her, so I’m going to take the intact areas and turn them into pendants to keep the beauty going.
I’ll also admit that I can’t bring myself to make the first cut despite the damage and will be taking her to a friend who runs a quilt shop to do the honours!
October 7, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Ummm, excuse me? She took a military medal and “repurposed”it?
It takes a great deal to offend me. I’m fucking offended by that. People hurt my brain. I hope that isn’t a “thing”.
October 7, 2011 at 10:53 pm
“mysterous Chinese characters” …because Chinese is apparently some ancient lost language that no one alive can read….
Excuse me, I have to go bang my head against the wall until the stupid stops.
October 9, 2011 at 11:28 am
If you’re banging your head until the stupid stops on Etsy, you’ll need a lot of aspirin.
October 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm
I wonder if those 4 to 5 German kids know the 6 to 8 black men who accompany Santa through Europe? I assume they are acquainted with them, since neither of their groups can be narrowed down to a specific number.
October 7, 2011 at 6:10 pm
But they’re the kind of black you get when you go through sooty chimneys.
October 7, 2011 at 5:20 pm
I sell a lot of collectibles and this is a valid area with respectable people buying and selling. There is a market for all countries’ military collectibles. They are not calling it nazi memorabilia or promoting the nazi way, they are just selling a collectible. My 2 cents.
October 7, 2011 at 5:35 pm
I find Nazi memorabilia fascinating, and I’m a Jew! It’s just… interesting.
October 7, 2011 at 6:00 pm
What kind of World are we living in that Nazi Mothers have to sell off their War Medals? IS NOTHING SACRED?
October 7, 2011 at 6:15 pm
I nominate this listing for this week’s Wrong Venue Award. People who are interested in this medal as an item of historical significance are not going to be looking for it on Esty. Instead, it will probably make a reappearance on Regretsy after it’s sold and incorporated into some ill-advised crafty train wreck.
October 7, 2011 at 6:28 pm
I wish I had the money to buy this (and donate it to a museum or other Jewish organization) just to ensure that it didn’t fall into the wrong hands.
October 7, 2011 at 7:24 pm
The U.S. had something similar. Not a medal, but a special white flag with blue stars on it-one star for every son that was fighting in either Europe or Japan.
I don’t have the flag, but I do have a copy of the paper where the Blue Star Mothers in our town awarded a special flag to my paternal grandmother for having the most sons (six out of seven) fighting overseas-three in Europe, and three in the pacific.
So I’m not really surprised by the German medal, and I imagine other countries involved in WW II had similar methods of honoring the sacrifice of mothers who had sons overseas fighting.
October 7, 2011 at 9:29 pm
There was a small flag with a single blue star on the front door of a house near me for a long time. It’s come down, so I assume the soldier came home.
If he hadn’t, it would have been replaced with a gold star. There’s a poignant scene in The Fighting Sullivans where you see a hand hanging a small banner with five gold stars in a window.
(The Gold Star Mothers still exist, although I haven’t heard anything about them since they booted out Cindy Sheehan for trying to co-opt their name to support camping outside the President’s ranch.)
October 7, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Actually this wasn’t specifically for mothers with sons fighting in the war. There was a laundry list of requirements for mothers to receive the medal, but military age children was not one of them. It was simply for having 4-5 healthy German children while being an upstanding “pure” German citizen.
October 7, 2011 at 8:30 pm
We have some Nazi memorbilia floating around my family. My favorite is an armband with a bloodstain on it. My great grandfather fought in WWII and brought it home as a souvenier. He was the one that put the blood on the armband. I really enjoy studying WWII, and I am minoring in European history. Just because something is atrocious doesn’t mean we can make it go away by pretending it doesn’t exist. By having artifacts like these in the home, it opens up discussions with our children and grandchildren so that we remember what happened and keep it from happening again
October 7, 2011 at 9:49 pm
As a reenactor(ANC) and avid WWII buff, I find these medals interesting. From both historical, and artistic view. They are strange medals, awarded for just having children(of course ‘pure’ children…but that is beside the point. And i am not condoning it in any way) that is why I find them alluring, but the germans loved handing out medals overall. It is an interesting snippet out of history that most people don’t know. I would honestly like to have one of these in my collection. But I wouldn’t get it from etsy. If you want to call me weird or anything, so be it.
October 7, 2011 at 9:52 pm
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October 8, 2011 at 10:52 am
I suppose you missed the post above where a seller was criticized for “upcycling” WWII medals into “cute” & “decorative” items?
Or were you being sarcastic and just forgot your /sarcasm tag?
October 7, 2011 at 10:20 pm
Actually, wouldn’t this be worth something to the right collectors?
October 8, 2011 at 11:25 am
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