Re: [meteorite-list] re: OT Hitler Autograph disguised as, meteorite coin

From: Alexander Seidel <gsac_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Sep 4 09:09:02 2005
Message-ID: <27759.1125839338_at_www11.gmx.net>

Well said, Marco! There is a saying here in Germany that "wer im Glashaus
sitzt, sollte nicht mit Steinen werfen", translating to "whoever is sitting
in a glass house should not throw stones", which is well applicable in this
case. This goes out to Matteo and all the the people who try to benefit or
make profit in some way from the relics of a very dark area, which we should
still be ashame of. May be it has become a problem of education and age
right now after the turn of the century, but that does not make up an excuse
after all.

By the way, on the other topic of the cultural heritage re coins and old
tempel finds, I disagree with my dear collector friend Martin Altmann from
Munich in his rather personal assessment about the intentions and goals of
the Meteoritical Society, but on the other hand I, just like him, don?t
understand why obviously nothing is done about these historically most
important artifacts towards answering the very questions they raise.

Dr. Grossman et al, your opinions on this would be welcome.

Alex
Berlin/Germany (..btw: also member of the MetSoc:-))



> Its forbidden by law in Germany Matteo, just as here in Holland its
> forbidden to
> sell "Mein Kampf" by law. You can get it "under the counter" but anyone
> offering
> it in public risks confiscation and juridical prosecution. If anyone would
> make
> a complaint to German justice about the items you found on German eBay,
> these
> dealers would be in big trouble. So don't use them to justify yourself.
>
> In itself there is nothing wrong with an HISTORICAL interest in such
> items, and
> not everybody collecting these kind of items is necesarily a Neo-Nazi or
> Fascist. Sadly enough however, still many of the buyers are all too
> ignorant of
> history, and buy it for reasons of veneration.
>
> The question now is, whether YOU are ignorant of history, Matteo, and of
> these
> connotations and sensitivities. As you come from a former Axis country,
> you
> should be carefull (please note: I do not say that you and/or civilians
> from
> former Axis countries are all still worshipping Fascism. I do say, that
> civilians from former Axis countries should be very sensitive to their
> context
> of history and the impression their acts make on outsiders, including
> civilians
> >from countries that were occupied by the Axis. That is the burden of
> being born
> there, I am sorry). Do you want to portray yourself as a person with
> ethics and
> a sense of what is appropriate, or do you just want to make unscrupulous
> money?
> Its a bit the same as weapons trade. There is a market for it, allright,
> that in
> some contexts is fully legal, in others isn't. But does this justify being
> active in that market?
>
> I take some offence to the fact that you tried to defend yourself by
> pointing to
> Stalin. I fully agree that Stalin was a mass-murderer too. So was Pol Pot,
> or
> Mao, or Bokassa, or Idi Amin. But that does not make Adolph Hitler more
> acceptable.
>
> I leave it with this as this does not belong on this list proper. But you
> should
> be more sensitive Matteo, to the connotations of what you offer for sale,
> and if
> that attracts critique, that is the result of the choices you made
> yourself. And
> you, only you, are responsible for that. It are YOUR choices.
>
> - Marco
>
> -----
> Dr Marco Langbroek
> Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)
>
> e-mail: meteorites_at_dmsweb.org
> private website http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek
> DMS website http://www.dmsweb.org
> -----
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Received on Sun 04 Sep 2005 09:08:58 AM PDT