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Dutch museums cope with appetite for Nazi artifacts

 

The worldwide demand for “souvenir” objects from WWII and the Nazi regime is significant, and this is reflected in the Dutch museums dedicated to the world conflict. According to The Guardian, several museums in the Netherlands had to reinforce their security after having suffered several thefts of objects linked to Nazism. This is the case of the 1940-1945 War Museum in the municipality of Loon op Zand, which has removed from its public spaces the personal cutlery of Adolf Hitler and SS leader Heinrich Himmler, explains NOS, public radio and television station of the kingdom. Items related to the Hitler Youth and SS uniforms were also removed from public view. A new secure door has been installed. The Arnhem museum has installed a roadblock so that trucks cannot enter the site.

If museums are afraid, it is because burglaries are on the increase. Two war museums, located in Ossendrecht and Beek, were burgled recently, in mid-October and mid-August respectively. In that of Ossendrecht, objects representing several hundred thousand euros were stolen, including, in particular, a rifle used by German paratroopers with an estimated value of 50,000 euros. According to the owner of the museum, Jan de Jonge, the objects linked to the Allies were not stolen, only those having a link with the Germans were of interest to the thieves, “particularly the clothes”, he underlined in Guardian. “They took the items that can be sold internationally,” he adds.

Unique, unsaleable items

In Beek, the loot is much more important: 1.5 million euros. The owner of this museum, Wim Seelen, believes that the thieves knew what they were looking for and that this theft was an order. “Most stolen items are so unique that you can’t sell them,” he says. He thinks that when they reappear on the market, they will be quickly recognized.

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