Swastikas, Roman Gear, modern reenactment (cont from market)

[Cornelius Quintus]

Avete omnes,
So if someone says:
I / we want a swastika on the Melun pugio.
I / we want it, even if it’s unlikely that it was original.
I / we want it, even if other members are not allowed to buy it.
That’s clear.

Heiko,for the third (?) time, no one ever brought the idea of having or not having the swastika on the MELUN pugio, except you.

Ave Alexander, avete omnes,

It seems I have to answer fast then. I was born in a part of Germany, which inhabitants have the reputation to be extremely stupid (contless jokes…), so three times matches just the number of our estimated maximum number of brain cells ;-) )

First, I don’t want to offend someone. Right, the thread began with the two prototypes, following other original finds. But after the swastika discussion, Deepeeka (and Adrian, who did all the research and designing work) decided to prefer the non-swastika Melun dagger.

While the Melun being shortly before release, now the swastika question popped up again. So in this context, at this stage in a 20 pages-thread, I understood this as either putting the whole project in question again or as ‘I or we want a swastika on the Melun’.

A clear word like: Can we have a swastika-pattern next time or a new thread would have been better, IMHO. Due of the repeated arguments that Deepeeka decided for the Melun model, a very small, homgenous series of 100 and no extra designs even when all are handcrafted, that discussion should have come to and end and shift to a new thread, preparing another variant or dagger model.

But to me, it seemed to shift to a moral level, blaming Germans not to be tolerant enough to allow swastikas and restrict re-enactors by that. That hits a certain nerve.

To make clear: I honour the individual person. And I’m convinced, that under the hakenkreuz, the red star and other symbols, there always were brave, clean men and women, unselfish heroes and shiny examples of morale and humanity. And I also know, that even worse actions or systems sometimes prevent much worse action of others. Germans like Schindler are heroes to the Jews today. But these were a minority in Nazi Germany.

In summary, there were some dictatorship systems, which left multi-millions of dead. Not only soldiers or ‘collateral damage’, but systematically mass murdered civilians. That makes their symbols dirty to me but of course don’t touch the honour of individuals.

You can’t blame any individual for the system – but on the other hand, you can’t redeem a system by the good deeds of individuals.

But that’s the problem in Germany. You know, we have not only the Nazi heritage, but also a Communist one after 4 decades of being divided in West and East.

That’s what a good German at least has to do:
- Feel personally guilty for the Holocaust
- Condemn the Nazi system as the expression of evil
- Never forget and do anything, that it never happens again
- Be sorry for every Neo Nazi activity (which is of course instantly published worldwide)
- Be tolerant and not restrict the freedom of using certain symbols, as if nothing happened
- Forget about the faint past and look forward
- Let Neo Nazis and old Communists proclaim their ideas in our parliaments, including denying the holocaust
- Help Israel as a duty due to Germany’s historical heritage
- Regret to have helped founding Israel, because that caused the Palestine problem
- Condemn the Communist system because it was more evil, enemy to the US and oppressed East Germany
- Honour the communist system, because it fought the Nazis
- Honour the Nazi party and army as far as it fought the Communists
- Honour the great military deeds and inventions
- Be deeply ashamed for the goal of the war, the terror and the mass murder
- Never forget the ‘Stasi’ (Secret East German police) and the people shot in the back when trying to climb over the ‘Mauer’ (infamous former border wall).
- Realize, that most east Germans were imprisoned in their own country
- And… and.. and…

Depending on your interlocutor (sometimes rather prosecutor), you are guilty if you will not condemn all systems, several systems or just one special system. You are guilty if you don’t point out the honour of individuals or in contrary, because you do that.

That’s a deadly trap, cross-fire coming from all sides. And many shots are coming from people who don’t live here. Germans have to be a kind of universal saint, able to respect, honour and condemn the same system or symbol in the same instant. Nobody can do that.

Please excuse, that my personal opinion won’t cover that all. I’m far from being perfect.

Back to the dagger: Talking about scientific facts, features of an original, measurements, production numbers or sale decisions are rather objective. There are clear points in the focus, which can be checked or have to be respected as the will of the manufacturer.

Moral discussions are the contrary. That’s why I don’t like this shifting to morale levels. Germans often experience, that if someone loses ground in a fact-based discussion, the moral discussion will follow. Perhaps I’ve mistaken it, perhaps it is paranoia. But that’s how I understood the swastika-discussion at that stage (!) of the Melun thread.

If there are so much people interested in a swastika pugio, it would have been more constructive to start a new thread, provide us with information, select a certain pattern and perhaps collect votes or pre-orders to allow Deepeeka to decide whether production will make sense…

As far as someone feels offended, I apologize and beg your pardon.

And please understand, that this is my last posting on that, even if I unwillingly will have hit someone again.

Therefore I invite the moderators to edit my statement(s), if there something unwillingly is provocative.