Hitler's Birthplace & Nazi Propaganda

The images have been restored, swastika and all, for the viewing pleasure of our members!

It is very interesting that the building on the card has only a cemented front wall structure showing, to make it look nice. Some of it's front windows are probably false. Perhaps the place has been polished and made up to look nice, to earn the prestige of being Hitler's origin?

The subject of the Nazi's/ Hitler and collectables is an important one and it is hard to know what to say about it. Of course this was an era in history, infamous as it was that was testament as to how cruel and inhumane homo sapiens has the capacity to be. That is a lesson that we should never be permitted to forget. What it is about that part of the globe that put the rest of the world through not one but two World Wars has always been somewhat disturbing to me particularly since some of the intolerance and purification ideas espoused by Hitler tend to still rear its ugly head periodically with the skin heads etc. But I don't see what that has to do with banning historical artifacts of the era including stamps. HIstorical documents signed by Hitler, Goring, Hess, and Bormann are readily available from manuscript dealers and collected hopefully as just an example of a historical figure in the same was as Napoleon, Stalin, or other tyrants have been collected. Naturally they should not be glorified and if I were to own one would not think of displaying it---but that is a different question than whether one should be able to privately collect this material. A despicable time of history!

t360...well done!

So, this one has come back! It is a great piece of postal history and IMHO is quite appropriate here, on ebay and everywhere else.

It is not the stamp, document, or propaganda piece that is evil. It is the use to which they are put by man that makes them evil or good.

I personally think it is silly to ban certain items for political correctness.

I once long ago collected Germany "between the wars" It was an interesting collection. I did not consider it to glorify or promote any period in history. It was interesting to see the change in the stamps after the Nazis took power. The semi-postals were especially interesting.

I don't think that collecting WWII German items should be an issue. As long as it is done with an historical appreciation, it seems fine to me. Perhaps there are Germans who collect US related items from the war! So many people today don't understand history... and therefore are allowing it to repeat itself... but let's not get into THAT! ;-)

First time I've seen this thread. The same logic would suggest that we collect absolutely nothing war-related. How about the Boer War? Did you know that the British invented the Concentration Camp during the Boer War? Thousands of women and children starved to death in said camp. A horrific period in history, yet nothing is said about collecting Boer War. Ditto the Pacific in WWII. Are there any active campaigns to prevent the collecting or showing of Imperial Japanese philatelic material?

One of my side collections is Third Reich, and my father, who landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, would turn in his grave if he knew. I collect this era purely because I think the stamps are stunning.

Thanks for digging this one up, Nells. I think it is right and appropriate to collect the Nazi stamps. I do it with resignation, but not zeal. It breaks my heart when I look at my page full of Hitler profiles. And then I'm absolutely crushed when I see the same profile but in a Czechoslovakian issue. Can you imagine? Wanting to send a letter to grandma, and having to use that stamp?

I see no problem with collecting Nazi-related stamps. It is, sadly, a big part of world history. Personally I put aside material for a World War II collection, the idea is telling the history of the war using (mostly) philatelic material. Not including for instance Hitler in such a collection wouldn't make much sense.

The problem with such material is that it can contribute to cultism around Hitler and the Nazis, but you can't ban material due to what a few disturbed persons might do. But this is a bit beside the discussion on a stamp forum.

Yobo: Very true about what you said about banning such items. Just like people wanting to ban guns because of a whack-job who commits a crime.

I myself, came across a large horde of German WWII/Third Reich postcards, covers, stamps, letters, etc. last year (mixed in with other items) and I'm just really starting to sell them now on Delcampe. I approach such material objectively and present them as items only a philatelist and historian and hope that the buyers on the otherside do the same. As other's stated, it is an important era to study despite it's ugliness. Knowledge not shared, is knowledge lost.
Will