No Parade figure compromise (2 Viewers)

[Isandlwana]

As a child of the seventies and early eighties I had to endure parodies of Nazi's on UK television which for many of my generation actually served to humanise them and more worryingly allowed the whole regime to take on a more comical aspect. Thank goodness we don't see that anymore on our screens and subsequent generations see them for what they actually were, unadulterated evil.

Saying that, my interest in military history was peaked by iSandlwana, as a single figure digit boy. It was the the thin red line in a far away foreign land that did it but with age I see that whole conflict for what it was and in line with most other conflicts, it stems from just a few individuals trying to impose their will on others through subjugation be it for greed or misguided ideological reasoning.

It could be argued that in the years leading up to the Zulu War, Shepstone and Frere were equally as evil concocting what they did to an unsuspecting nation and certainly more duplicitous than some more recent tyrants and thankfully we will never see any figures produced of them and nor should we.

Nobody civilised would want to look at them on a shelf.

 

[octavedoctor]

It doesn't matter how 'nice and neat' the little rows of black garbed figures turn out it is impossible for any empathetic (to the victims), consciously adult person to divorce the sight of them from one of the most recent, wide-spread and cataclysmic manifestations of an evil philosophy, one that is underground, real and still with us today in various forms, and not just an historical regime to play toys with. And that fundamentally is why you can't try and wrap it all up as if you were dealing with representations of historical troops to innocently collect. It is simply not comparable to any other situation.

And as for the Hitler bust/figure - you could use it to map out 200 rather flawed guys to keep a weather eye on if you noted where they sold, or just ban it.

Good on First Legion for spurning the LAH (Laugh At Hitler?) route.

 

[nysoldiers]

Most children love a parade. So if my children or grandchildren saw a display of LAH figures their first reaction would be amusement and interest. If they asked to know about the figures and display what do I tell them? These soldiers represent the Nazi regime in Germany who were among the most evil people in history......they caused the deaths of tens of millions of people and slaughtered innocent men, women and children. Then why do you have them parading? Why not Americans or British?
On the other hand having Germans in battle dress and poses fighting the Allies can be explained as the history of a war and how the good guys won and saved the world from evil. No glamor or positive spin.
I could see having a diorama showing Americans and their allies fighting ISIS, Taliban or Al Qaeda but I certainly wouldn't collect those terrorists on parade.

As far as the TCS Hitler statue I am very disappointed in their decision to release this. I know for sure that any friend or relative visiting my home and seeing this bust would be offended and suspect of my character....this goes for any religion, nationality or ethnicity. They certainly wouldn't want their children playing in my house.

I know this may sound harsh and I certainly don't think ill of K&C as I still buy from them. I hope that those who collect these have legitimate historical motives and make sure that there is no dilution of their disgust for the Nazi regime and their history lessons for our youth.

All that said.....full disclosure.....I have had people view my toy soldier collection and say that it promotes war and violence. Many parents won't let their children play with toy soldiers or toy guns of any type. I explain that it is a way to teach history and understand the people who fought the wars........maybe we all rationalize!