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Original poster

Weird inheritance

77 replies

DodgyInheritance · 31/10/2020 22:05

I’ve recently inherited the entire estate of my uncle. He wasn’t someone I knew particularly well, him and my dad never really got on but I was his closest relative so for whatever reason he left everything to me.

It’s an incredible help financially and totally unexpected so I’m obviously massively grateful. Only issue is that he was an utter racist and his house holds an awful lot of Nazi memorabilia. Bags and bags of coins, original 1930’s books and some medals. Having had a look on EBay none of it seems particularly rare - the coins seem to go for about £10 each and books and medals about £30-£50. In total I’d guess it’s about £700 worth of stuff.

But - I don’t want to sell this to people who collect Nazi memorabilia as they’re obviously bastards. Equally none of it seems rare enough for any museum to be interested in it. Even if I donated to a charity shop it would still end up being sold to weird Nazi collectors. But then if I don’t sell it and I suddenly drop dead and people find I’ve got an attic full of Nazi stuff they’ll think I’m a psycho.

Any suggestions? The money isn’t an issue as there’s plenty of non racist stuff in the house I can sell, it’s just this stuff that I’m concerned about.

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 31/10/2020 22:07

Bin it?

sar302 · 31/10/2020 22:08

Maybe a local school? World war 2 And the rise of the nazis is still a widely studied topic. I get what you mean about neither wanting to sell them or be discovered with them 😱

FedUpAtHomeTroels · 31/10/2020 22:09

I don't think I'd want to sell or keep Nazi memorabilia either. I'd probably bag it and send it to the duump, then sell the non Nazi stuff on. So he left you a load of stuff to get rid of. Sounds like a big job.

Notanothercherrybakewell · 31/10/2020 22:09

Check out a small local 'museum' that is more a 1 display type place. There is a lovely one near me that has a 'Britain at war' exhibit that showcases lots of letters from local lads and they have a few German ones too that highlight the similarities between the 2.
Seems a shame for it to go to landfill if it can be used in a teaching capacity

CaptainMyCaptain · 31/10/2020 22:10

Burn it? The coins would still survive I suppose.

Xiaoxiong · 31/10/2020 22:10

Museum? That could have the added bonus of educating people about what really happened in WWII and forestalling Holocaust denial.

starfishmummy · 31/10/2020 22:13

If you are sure there is nothing rare that a museum would want them just take it to your nearest cojncil tip.

Nacreous · 31/10/2020 22:14

Small local museum seems like a good idea to me: we have a couple of one room places nearby that I can imagine could make use of some of it. It could also be worth ringing up a bigger local museum as they might have better ideas of what to do with the damned stuff?

Is there any context as to how he came across it, or who owned it before that might make it of interest to the local archive office?

TheSmallAssassin · 31/10/2020 22:18

Yes, just put it in the bin or take it to the tip!

Longdistance · 31/10/2020 22:18

We went to the tank museum in Dorset last week, they had nazi artefacts/uniforms there as it was associated to the nazis building tanks that were more advanced than ours.
I’d say contact a few different museums.

Original poster
DodgyInheritance · 31/10/2020 22:21

There is a smallish town museum that might take it. Local school is another good suggestion. I’m really reluctant to just bin it - I know it’s not rare and obviously pretty grim stuff but I just feel uncomfortable binning a part of history like that.

I’ve no idea how he ended up with it, just collected it I guess. My dad’s dead so I can’t ask him but he always said his brother was a racist bugger. I didn’t realise he meant he was a full on neo Nazi though!

OP posts:
Toscata · 31/10/2020 22:21

Yes, a small local museum sounds like it might possibly be the way forward.

FWIW I think there's a case for not destroying this kind of thing. Better to acknowledge and bear witness to the evil stuff than to have it airbrushed out of history. (Although I agree that the motives of private collectors appear to be dubious at best...)

HollowTalk · 31/10/2020 22:22

I'd burn what I could and send the rest to the tip.

Somewherein2021 · 31/10/2020 22:25

Email the Imperial War Museum, they might be interested if you can send some photos. They might cover the postage to them?

Original poster
DodgyInheritance · 31/10/2020 22:26

That’s my view too toscata.

OP posts:
FAE18 · 31/10/2020 22:27

@Somewherein2021

Email the Imperial War Museum, they might be interested if you can send some photos. They might cover the postage to them?
Exactly
ArnoldBee · 31/10/2020 22:30

National Holocaust Museum at Laxton?

crankysaurus · 31/10/2020 22:31

I'd see if a museum can take it.

Theaspidistraiswilting · 31/10/2020 22:31

When we moved into our house we found a trunk full of old autopsy photographs, they were graphic and grim - we took them to a police station!

Ginkypig · 31/10/2020 22:32

Personally I would donate it to a museum or other educational organisation and ask them if they wouldn’t mind either to pass it on or dispose of it if it wasn’t of interest

Student133 · 31/10/2020 22:38

DO NOT DESTROY IT. Whatever the views of your uncle (being a racist is not necessarily the same as being a Nazi) you should never destroy artifacts of history, even if they were created by truly awful regimes. As a history student it is vital we preserve these objects in a careful and measured way, I doubt agree with Aztec human sacrifices, but I'm sure you would agree it would be an act of historical vandalism to destroy things out of ignorance. Aside from this it is quite possible these are worth a large amount of money, so take a few photos and maybe find a Facebook group somewhere who know what they're on about. You wouldn't throw away a potentially several thousand pound check, so dont throw this away either.

JaJaDingDong · 31/10/2020 22:47

Sell the coins and medals for scrap metal, to be melted down.

DianaT1969 · 31/10/2020 22:50

Email the Imperial War Museum. They'll probably know smaller museums you can contact.

JacobReesMogadishu · 31/10/2020 22:50

Eden camp museum in York might take it?

BullBailey · 31/10/2020 22:51

Definitely museum!

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