Bodies dug from graves to fuel trade in Nazi souvenirs

[Locutus]

Grave robbers are digging up bodies of German soldiers killed in the Second World War to recover Nazi memorabilia, feeding a multi-million pound market, it emerged on Monday.

Servicemen's groups have condemned the trade in Nazi souvenirs, which has seen hundreds of artifacts - including dog tags and tank parts - stripped from graves in Demyansk, near Novgorod in Russia, and Kurland in Latvia.

The items end up for sale on websites or at specialist fairs while the bodies are dumped in mass graves.

Paul Reed, a military archaeologist, told The Times: “It's wholesale looting of battle sites, and the bones are just tipped into holes at the end of the day.

“Second World War archaeology is in its infancy at the moment, and these people are destroying our future, as well as desecrating the graves of fallen soldiers. None of them deserved to have their bones dug up.”

Items have reportedly been offered at War and Peace, the biggest military fair in Europe, which takes place at Hop Farm, in Kent.



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Bodies dug from graves to fuel trade in Nazi souvenirs - Telegraph

 

[SLM]

What a bunch of ghouls! Disgusting.

 

[MapleDog]

I'm not really surprised,its in Russia,they'll do anything for a quick buck.

 

[EagleSmack]

I watched a documentary on the German invasion of the Soviet Union. I am surprised these graves have lasted this long. The Soviets turned over the graves of German soldiers or removed markings wherever they could be found.

 

[B00Mer]

The soldiers are dead.. I don't think they really care.. 50 yrs later I'm sure they are more like dust.

 

[MapleDog]

The soldiers are dead.. I don't think they really care.. 50 yrs later I'm sure they are more like dust.

Still doesn't make it right to dig up the bodies,to steal the stuff on them.

how would people react if some would go in cemetaries to dig up the bodies of George Washington,Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt,to make money selling what they were buried with.

 

[EagleSmack]

Still doesn't make it right to dig up the bodies,to steal the stuff on them.

how would people react if some would go in cemetaries to dig up the bodies of George Washington,Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt,to make money selling what they were buried with.

Oh I am not justifying what they're doing at all. I am just saying the mentality of the Soviets then and apparently the Russians today is "F*** em... they shouldn't have been here to begin with."

Did you ever see the documentary about Lincoln's body? His friends were constantly moving him and opening up his casket. Lincoln's son eventually put a stop and buried him in concrete.

 

[MapleDog]

Did you ever see the documentary about Lincoln's body? His friends were constantly moving him and opening up his casket. Lincoln's son eventually put a stop and buried him in concrete.

Never heard about the story.

Don't blame me,i live in kwebec,where whats outside the province is apparently not important.

 

[EagleSmack]

Never heard about the story.

Don't blame me,i live in kwebec,where whats outside the province is apparently not important.

I just found it an interesting story. Robbers tried to steal Lincoln's body for ransom but failed. So a group of Lincoln's friends secretly moved his body and buried it in a basement. Every once in awhile they'd dig it up to "see if he was still in the casket". Lincoln's son was originally supportive of this group until he found out they were constantly digging him up and looking at him.

 

[MapleDog]

I just found it an interesting story. Robbers tried to steal Lincoln's body for ransom but failed. So a group of Lincoln's friends secretly moved his body and buried it in a basement. Every once in awhile they'd dig it up to "see if he was still in the casket". Lincoln's son was originally supportive of this group until he found out they were constantly digging him up and looking at him.

They were i guess as bored as todays kids.

 

[petros]

Grave digging is an everywhere thing. Civil war relics in the US fetch far more than Nazi crap from former USSR. Native relics from Canada and US are constantly being looted. Mexico is pillaged for Mayan gold and artifacts. S. America it's Incan.

Don't be too quick when you say **** about "these people or those bastards there".

 

[EagleSmack]

When you think about it... archaeologists dig up people all the time for their trinkets. How many cardboard boxes of bones are sitting in the back rooms of museums these days?

 

[petros]

When you think about it... archaeologists dig up people all the time for their trinkets. How many cardboard boxes of bones are sitting in museums these days?

The Brits looted Egypt and $Billions in antiquities sit in boxes in the Royal Museum. Spain looted the Americas of it gold and culture. They built some pretty freakin' fancy Cathedrals with the loot.

 

[L Gilbert]

Newsflash!
Graverobbers abound.

 

[MapleDog]

The Brits looted Egypt and $Billions in antiquities sit in boxes in the Royal Museum. Spain looted the Americas of it gold and culture. They built some pretty freakin' fancy Cathedrals with the loot.

I remember reading that in the 1800s they used mummies to fuel the steam locomotives,and one apparently said, the mummies of pharaohs burned better than commoners.

 

[EagleSmack]

Here in the US archaeologist would dig up Native Americans all the time until the Indians got POed. It would have been funny to see Native Americans go into Colonial graveyards and start digging up the Puritans for research.

However, Native Americans have claim over ANY pre-colonial burial. So archaeologists could find the bodies of the original Americans to cross the Asian land bridge and they would not be able to study them. Native Americans have been pretty much immovable with regards to finds as such.

 

[damngrumpy]

The sad fact is the Germans did some pretty nasty things themselves to graves in
occupied lands during the war. In Russia its pure hypocrisy though. Here we have
people digging up graves and stealing things which is disgusting agreed, and saying
to hell with German soldiers. At the same time the streets are filled from time to time
with white power Nazi Russian groups beating up immigrants. This is not about the
bad German soldiers its about Greed and stealing from graves.
It is being done in all kinds of countries. You are also right in that archaeologists are
nothing more than grave robbers complaining that the present thieves are destroying
the landscape for future thieves. I don't care about who's graves are being torn up
because I think its wrong to dig up any and all graves. A war grave is a reminder of the
past and should serve as a warning for the future.

 

[EagleSmack]

I guess it is in their mindset. I know from the documentary wherever the graves of Germans were found they were turned up and the bones crushed for whatever crushed bone is good for. The Soviet state said there would be no memorials for Germans on their soil.

Now it is simply greed I would guess. It would be nice if the Germans could repatriate the bodies of these soldiers and bury them in Germany.

It is sort of arrogant... to a point... for archaeologist to think that only they can dig up bodies and collect artifacts. There is money made from what they do in exhibits.

 

[MapleDog]

I guess it is in their mindset. I know from the documentary wherever the graves of Germans were found they were turned up and the bones crushed for whatever crushed bone is good for. The Soviet state said there would be no memorials for Germans on their soil.

Now it is simply greed I would guess. It would be nice if the Germans could repatriate the bodies of these soldiers and bury them in Germany.

It is sort of arrogant... to a point... for archaeologist to think that only they can dig up bodies and collect artifacts. There is money made from what they do in exhibits.

But if any person digs for artefacts,they may accidently damage them.
plus the artefacts/items may end in private collections,never to be seen.

 

[L Gilbert]

I see nothing wrong with anthropologists digging up ancient stuff to research whatever they want to about whatever they find as long as they have the appropriate permissions. If they didn't we wouldn't know dickall about anything human from before recorded history.