Australian Jewish Group Calls for National Ban on Nazi Memorabilia After Latest Discovery at Antiques Market

A top Australian Jewish group is calling for a blanket national ban on the sale of Nazi memorabilia after the grandson of Holocaust survivors discovered Nazi items being sold in New South Wales.

The items were seen at Dirty Jane’s Antique Market in the town of Bowral, Australia. Advertised as “militaria,” they included Nazi insignia such as a Luftwaffe pilot’s patch and coins from the Nazi era bearing swastika symbols.

Dr. Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, which is involved in a campaign to ban such items, said Saturday, “You would think that by now, antique stores would understand that it is perverse to put a price tag on extermination, and if they took the time to think about the 1.5 million children murdered by the Nazis, perhaps they would think twice about trafficking in these instruments of death.”

“If Hitler were alive today, he would be applauding them for glorifying his barbaric crimes and keeping his monstrous legacy alive,” he asserted, adding that contemporary white supremacists would likely be inspired by such items and use them as recruitment tools.

Trade in such items, he stated, “is poisoning our society and violating our nation’s core values.”

“We know very well that in the real world, antisemitic propaganda, as represented by these items, often results in violence and deadly attacks, and as we monitor the growing threat of extremist organizations, we know that such groups have an appetite for these satanic relics,” he noted.

“This lurid trade has to stop, and I call on all governments to honor the sacrifices of the brave Australian diggers made in defeating Hitler, and to follow the state of Victoria’s lead by planning to legislate and ban the public display of Third Reich symbols.”