Would you hang this in your house?

[Floofparty]

My DH has inherited a framed certificate and medal which was presented to a relative in 1937 when she was a British army nurse. She was stationed in Spain when a German battleship was bombed and she helped care for the injured.

The medal was awarded to her by the German Red Cross with the approval of Adolf Hitler, and his name is very prominent on the certificate - it stands out more than any of the other text. Do you think it’s bad taste to hang this in our house, or is it merely an interesting piece of historical memorabilia?

YABU - guests may take offence or think it odd
YANBU - hang the frame

Ah right. I'm very aware of Guernica. I believe this certificate relates to the bombing of the Deutschland which was patrolling off Ibiza as part of (allegedly) the international non-intervention and observation patrol. It was however bombed by Republican forces in the mistaken belief that it was a Spanish Nationalist (socialist) ship. There were many dead, with the injured being taken to Gibraltar where a British medical facility tended to them. Four extra British nurses were flown out by the RAF to help and they all received awards signed by Hitler afterwards.

@AtomHeartMotherOfGod "Elizabeth I executed shit loads of people but I'll bet no one would care having something referencing her on view."

That's such a poor analogy that it's hard to even know where to begin. Firstly Elizabeth I died 423 years ago when England was still classed as Medieval. Medieval beliefs, standards and world views were so unimaginably removed from our own that it would take pages and pages to explain it to you. Secondly, she didn't send 6 million people to be gassed to death in the biggest genocide the world has ever seen, nor did she leave the whole of Europe in inconceivable and utter devastation. The material effects of which were still being felt at least 30 years after the war and the emotional suffering still continues. There are millions of people alive now, as we speak, who were victims of not only the Holocaust but the war as a whole. Children whose parents were gassed to death or who were experimented on in the vilest of ways known to mankind in order to create the "master race". There are millions of people still alive now who will never know what happened to their families or homes. All of this is within living memory and happened in the 20th century. My own father was a medic who saw the horrors of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where 70,000 alone died of starvation and disease. The scars are very real and still here.

Some truly awful people gain power in the name of the greater good and decent people, feeling that they, on their own can do nothing, get swept along. Its not good but its human.

And then some people, far too unique and rare, rise above it and think about the real greater good of human compassion. In this case a nurse, in pre war Europe just looking at helping the suffering no matter who they are. Thats pretty special to me.

A soldier writing letters from the front line where he puts on a brave face - some call out for their mum in the stinking trenches, does it matter which side they were on, they die/suffer in the same way - are we to abandon compassion completely?

This woman showed immense bravery and bucked the trend, she didn't care what others thought, she followed her own conscience. Maybe if more people had the strength to follow their own conscience, then repeated horrors like the holocaust or slavery would never again happened?

I'm not willing to minimise that spark of humanity in an otherwise dark world. I believe we need to rethink it!

Excellent answer.

You obviously don't have much knowledge of what you are talking about. Hang whatever you want in your own house, but jumping to ridiculous conclusions about other people because you don't know or understand a subject, is a step too far. It's you who look silly though, not the people you are attacking.

I'm sorry, but if you think that this is in any way appropriate then you are the ignorant one. I can assure you that most people would feel the way I do. You can sneer all you like. You don't look cool, just racist and ignorant.

And this is it, that spark of compassion, should not be thrown away, the world would be a better place if we showed love and care to all.

Why be ashamed and hide such a compassionate womans work.

No, I personally think someone who cared for and looked after Nazis during the world war should be a family shame, not celebration

I think the event in question was actually prior to the war. But nevertheless I'd certainly feel quite proud if she were a family member of mine.

My DF and DGPs have an admirable collection of medals for military and heroic merits but they didn't hang them up on display. It's a case of personal achievement and pride without the need to show it. Call it class, stoicism, whatever, so no I don't see why you want to as she probably wouldn't have had it on display either. Rather they were kept and preserved and boxes to look at, show people.

I'm the same with awards and qualifications, wouldn't dream of having them in prominent places, it's just a bit pretentious IMO.

People like you might confuse German soldiers and Nazis, so it's not a nurse family would should be ashamed here.

As a German married to a Jew, I’d have hung it up in the office.. or the upstairs hall, where only we would see it

I'm trying not to receive a ban for offensive language and, honestly, I don't even like writing that word in full, it turns my stomach.
You should look up the meaning of the word glorifying if you are unsure as to why I used the word to describe the action of displaying a certificate endorsed by Adolf Hitler.

From what you've written, I can see that you already know the answer to your disingenuous question @Duckduckgander 🙄

You should look up the meaning of the word glorifying if you are unsure as to why I used the word to describe the action of displaying a certificate endorsed by Adolf Hitler.

It means to make something seem better or more important than it actually is, no?
I don't see how displaying a certificate with Hitler's name on it in an administrative context does that.

Is that your way of saying you can't answer the question?

Do you really assume that anyone that asks for clarification for the rationale behind a view you hold, that they don't share is disingenuous?

You don't owe anyone an explanation for how you feel, you have every right to your own opinion. But maybe you should be less quick to judge and make offensive assumptions of people who hold different opinions to you.

I'm guessing that English is your second language @AlwaysExtraHot ? I don't understand what you mean by 'administrative context'? To be clear; hanging a certificate which was presented to a member of your family on the wall of your home where visitors can see and admire it and the presenter is not what I would describe as 'administrative'. It is demonstrating pride in the certificate and it's meaning. Whilst the OP's family may be proud of the relative and her work, I am at a loss as to why she or her family would be proud to receive something with Adolf Hitler's prominent seal of approval on it or why they would be happy to display it in their home.

I have already explained my views throughout this thread and you are welcome to read them. I will absolutely judge people who think is is acceptable to collect/display n*zi memorabilia. If you find that offensive then maybe you could explain why?

Oh no, I totally agree collecting Nazi memorabilia just for display in a private home is highly questionable and offensive.

I just I don't think the document in question is in anyway an example of such a thing. It's an acknowledgement of the actions of a nurse carrying out her duty.

I appreciate you are offended by the fact it is printed with Hitler's name, but I haven't seen any explanation as to how that qualifies it as Nazi memorabilia.

What I find offensive, is that you brand people as collectors of Nazi memorabilia, accuse people of glorifying the Nazis, because unlike you they see worth in a historic document that marks the compassionate actions of a nurse.

I fully accept that just the name Hitler makes some people uncomfortable, but what is to be gained by trying to eradicate him from history?

As uncomfortable as it may be, we should all remember the darkest points in history. If for nothing else but as an attempt to prevent the same horrors happening again.

I’d sell it I think.

I have made my views very clear and you obviously understand them so I'm not sure what you think your repeated attempts to try to force me to change my position by accusing me of being offensive and having the wrong opinion because it's not the same as yours is achieving. If you find my revulsion at displaying endorsed by Adolf Hitler offensive rather than what he and his party represent then that's for you and your conscience to sit with and I think this interaction should end here.

LOL, no, I’m an English monoglot.
I mean that the name (not signature; the signature is someone else’s) is there to show that Hitler was the leader of the organisation in question at the time.
That seems to me to be an administrative thing, but maybe I should have said ‘bureaucratic’?

I am also interested to hear what qualifies a nursing certificate as Nazi memorabilia.

@ShutupLwrenyou sound like a wonderful person! Thank you for your post, what you say about compassion is so true.

WW2 was complicated and messy, as war tends to be. My DHs family have recently regained their German citizenship after 80 years, it was stripped from my DHs paternal grandfather when he and his family had to flee. His job gave him travel exemptions many didn’t enjoy under the nazi regime, and he used this to secretly courier information for the German resistance, at great personal risk. Because of all this DH likes to collect German ephemera from the period such as maps, cigarette cards and things like that, not because he has any sympathies to the regime at that time, but because it gives him a small insight into life for his grandfather before it all went to shit for him and his family. Your medal and certificate are very similar, a snapshot of a particular time and your relative’s involvement. It’s not something to be ashamed of. Maybe don’t hang it in the hallway, but certainly don’t get rid of it.