Grave robbers are plundering the burial sites of thousands of German soldiers to feed the demand in Britain for Nazi memorabilia.
Tens of thousands of troops from the Third Reich were killed in battlefields in east Europe during the Second World War. Alongside their fallen bodies were items such as dog tags, rifles, daggers and helmets.
Organised gangs are now digging up the graves of the dead soldiers to make off with the valuable items. The trade in Nazi memorabilia is worth millions of pounds and Britain is one of a handful of European countries where it is still legal.
But Armed Forces groups have slammed the practice of unearthing the bodies of the men in the hunt for collectible items. The bones are simply scattered on the ground or tossed into mass graves, or in some cases they are even sold.
Military archaeologist Peter Reed branded it ‘wholesale looting’ and said the men’s skeletons are ‘tipped into holes’.
‘Second Word 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 who do not deserve to have their bones dug up,’ he told The Times.
The trade is focused around battlefields in eastern Europe and Russia. Items being sold at recent fairs include those excavated from sites in Demyansk in Russia and Kurland in Latvia.
Experts say that Russian authorities turn a blind eye to activities of the gangs, because they have ‘little regard for Germans’. They added that the trade was ‘almost mafia-run’.
Wednesday 2 January 2013
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/nazi-grave-robbers-stealing-medals-equipment-and-body-parts-to-sell.html
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