"Arbeit Macht Frei" et le marché de masse d'objets nazis

"Cet épisode révoltant démontre, une fois de plus, que la banalisation, en grande partie par inadvertance, de la Shoah dans nos sociétés représente un danger infiniment plus grand que la folie de quelques négationnistes antisémites. En effet, la banalisation dans nos sociétés de la Shoah par les médias et les politiques est un défi autrement plus difficile à relever que la simple condamnation des quelques fous qui nient la Shoah : c'est là le vrai enjeu, et ceux qui (consciemment ou non) acquiescent à la banalisation de la Shoah devraient être tenus pour responsables." (Mark Gardner, du Community Security Trust)

EJP : Le ministre polonais de la Justice Krzysztof Kwiatkowski s'est entretenu mercredi avec son homologue suédoise Beatrice Ask sur la coopération dans l'enquête sur le vol de l'inscription "Arbeit macht frei" de l'ancien camp d'extermination nazi d'Auschwitz-Birkenau, a annoncé le ministère polonais. "L'entretien portait sur une demande d'entraide judiciaire en cours de préparation par le parquet régional de Cracovie (sud)", selon un communiqué officiel.

Le 18 décembre, l'inscription en métal, longue d'environ cinq mètres et placée au-dessus de la porte d'entrée du camp, a été volée par cinq Polonais qui ont été arrêtés trois jours plus tard. Le commanditaire de ce vol, un étranger selon le parquet, n'a toujours pas été arrêté. La police a retrouvé cette inscription en allemand qui signifie "le travail rend libre", découpée en trois morceaux par les voleurs. Le camp de la mort d'Auschwitz avait été établi en 1940 en Pologne occupée par l'Allemagne nazie qui y a assassiné environ 1,1 million de personnes, dont un million de Juifs.
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C'est un phénomène peu connu mais il existe un véritable engouement pour les objets nazis au point qu'un marché de masse pour ces objets s'est développé. Un numismate belge m'a confirmé que c'est bien le cas et qu'il y a des foires, des publications etc. Mark Gardner du CST s'est penché sur cet inquiétant phénomène lié à la trivialisation de la Shoah et qui relèverait davantage de la pornographie de l'horreur que de l'histoire militaire ou de la sympathie pour le nazisme.

"Arbeit Macht Frei and the mass market for Nazism

The theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign from the entrance to Auschwitz is a reminder that the vast consumer market for Nazism owes far more to the pornography of horror than it does to either military history, or sympathy for Nazism. [...]

So, it would appear that this, the worst desecration of all, was primarily driven not by antisemitism or politics, but by ordinary criminal greed. But how does a criminal gang profit by stealing the Arbeit Macht Frei sign and selling it? Selling it to whom? Who would buy such a sign?

It is a vital question. Superficially at least, the answer to it is well known. Society is fascinated by evil, and Nazi memorabilia is a best seller. This leaves Jews, and many others, feeling deeply uncomfortable, and lay at the heart of the previous controversy to arise over Nazi memorabilia: the case of Marc Garlasco, a leading expert for Human Rights Watch, revealed by pro-Israel activists to be a keen collector of German World War Two memorabilia, and anti-aircraft gunnery medals in particular.

There is absolutely no parallel between Garlasco’s motivation and behaviour and that of the Auschwitz thieves, but they still find themselves inhabiting the same marketplace. Human Rights Watch (HRW) appallingly misrepresented Jewish concerns about Garlasco’s hobby, but perhaps this new controversy will help them to better understand Jewish emotions and interpretations about the entire spectrum of Nazi and German WW2 hobbyists, collectors and fetishists. Indeed, if this whole sorry episode does not convince HRW of what truly causes Jewish concerns about the trivialisation of Nazism, then perhaps nothing will. Marc Garlasco’s stomach may well turn at the mere prospect of even touching the stolen Auschwitz sign, but he is surely within the same spectrum, albeit it at a very different end. This is demonstrated by his own words: "That is so cool! The leather SS jacket makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!"

The reason that leather SS jackets make the "blood go cold" and are so "COOL!" is nothing to do with Nazis making fierce soldiers, or having well-cut uniforms, catchy insignia, and a keen eye for homo-erotic pageantry. (Although all of this adds to the lustre.) Rather, it is because of the Nazi Holocaust of Europe’s Jews.

Of course, the Nazis also murdered millions of non-Jewish civilians: worked them to death, bombed them, shot them, left them to die of exposure and starvation, gassed them even. In marketing terms, however, none of this is Nazism’s unique selling point. None of it matches everything that is encapsulated by Arbeit Macht Frei. quick glance at the history section of your local bookshop, or the history documentaries on your satellite television will show that Nazism is a best seller: and this most certainly does not mean that the authors of such books, or the makers of such documentaries are Nazis. Furthermore, it most certainly does not make Nazis of the consumers who actually comprise the marketplace for their books, and documentaries (or even SS leather jackets).

The fact remains, however, that the unique selling point of Nazism, the thing that makes Nazis so much more compelling than Stalinists, Maoists, or anybody else, is their industrialised genocide of European Jewry: as epitomised by Auschwitz-Birkenau; and as for ever symbolised by the Arbeit Macht Frei sign.

It is absolutely correct that the entire world should recoil in revulsion at the theft of the Auschwitz sign. That, however, is a very easy response. A more challenging response, begins with acknowledging that the theft of the sign represents the ultimate endpoint of the vast consumer market for Nazism.

This sickening episode shows us, once again, that society’s largely inadvertent trivialisation of the Holocaust is immeasurably more dangerous than the outright denial of a few crazed antisemites. It is far harder to challenge social, media and political trivialisation of the Holocaust than it is to simply condemn Holocaust denial lunatics: but it must be done, and those who (wittingly or not) acquiesce in Holocaust trivialisation must be called to account."

- Gilles Paris journaliste du 'Monde' défend Marc Garlasco et HRW
- Human Rights Watch suspend Marc Garlasco, amateur de militaria nazi
- Marc Garlasco, un collectionneur d'objets nazis chez Human Rights Watch