nazi memorabilia at AWA??

[davemerrill]

After the show this year - well, after the dealers room was closed, anyway - I found out that a dealer was selling Nazi memorabilia in the dealers room. No, really, here's a photo.



Neil took this photo. I had walked past this dealer at least twice but didn't notice the Nazi flag. I noticed the German Army WWII style uniforms, the hats, the "yaoi" armbands with "yaoi" where the swastika would be, but didn't see any actual swastikas. But they were there, pictures don't lie.

I'm deeply embarrassed that I and AWA and its staff, directors, and attendees, are in any way associated with somebody who would profit from trivializing one of the most horrific episodes in human history. Nazi memorabilia has no place being sold at AWA.

Right now there's a thread on the message board where discussion of this issue is taking place, and I urge everyone to take a moment to let the convention know your thoughts on this.

My personal feeling? I am going to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that this dealer, or any other dealer, will not be selling Nazi memorabilia at AWA next year, or any other year. It does not belong at AWA. Full stop, end of story.

Comments

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Daryl, you mind posting that pic to the AWA message board in the thread, or do you mind if I post it, with your quote about the Adolph Hitler portrait?

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I see DFS beat me to the Godwinizing of the thread, which is excellent.

[daryl surat (from livejournal.com)]

I went ahead and linked the post along with a slightly higher-resolution version of the photo I took over on the AWA board. My old camera phone isn't fancy enough for auto-focus, but it gets the idea across. Some of the eagle crosses and swastikas on the jackets and hats are a bit too fine detail to see in my picture, but if you full-size Neil's picture you can see this stuff.

Every year Dragon*Con does their big costume parade, and one section of the parade typically features World War II stuff. The first time I went to Dragon*Con was about 3-4 years ago with a friend who was set to march in the parade as an SS officer. At Dragon*Con you can just wear the full-on Nazi uniform with swastika armband and the like, and nobody bats an eye because that's not anywhere close to being the most terrifying sight there. Anyway, he got a lot of compliments on his outfit from people walking up to him, and they'd say things like "yeah I would've worn my stuff too, but I didn't want to risk it around all these porch monkeys." Then they'd walk off.

So yeah, I never went back to Dragon*Con.

[warpig1979.livejournal.com]

At Dragon*Con you can just wear the full-on Nazi uniform with swastika armband and the like, and nobody bats an eye because that's not anywhere close to being the most terrifying sight there.

This is an excellent summation of the Dragoncon experience.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

The only time I ever saw Nazis at an Atlanta Fantasy Fair was in conjunction with a stage play Donna Barr was doing for "Desert Peach", and as part of an Indiana Jones thing.

People use Dragoncon as an excuse to get their Nazi on? Glad I quit going.