What is your opinion on the LAH series? (1 Viewer)

[Gideon]

I am a K&C authorized dealer in NYC (for those of you who don't know me) and I get a tremendously mixed reaction to having the LAH on display. It's not a prominent display but it is out there and it is really hard not to notice it.

I take a fair share of heat for carrying and displaying the series and I am curious to know how you all feel about this series, both good and bad, if you collect it or not, etc.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Gideon,

You know my opinion about the LAH stuff, I don't have a problem with other people who choose to collect it, but I won't have it in my house. I guess on the opposite extreme are those neo-nazi's who came into your store last week. I was glad to hear that you refused to sell to them. Its kind of funny that our fathers and grandfathers fought that war for freedom, and now, because of the freedom our forefathers won for us, people can walk the streets of our country wearing Nazi insignia with swastika tatoos on their arms. I guess Thomas Jefferson said it best: I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will lay down my life fighting for your right to say it. (this is a paraphrase, I can't be sure its the exact quote).

 

[jazzeum]

Louis says it all for me. Technically, artistically, it's a beautiful looking series and I happened to find this a fascinating era -- the Weimar Republic and Hitler's rise to power and I'm currently reading a book about it. However, that's where it stops. I don't want them in my house. My family lost a good many relatives to the camps and I'm not about to desecrate their memory.

 

[Warbuff26]

What Louis and Brad said!

 

[erniesstudio]

As far as parade troops go k&Cs best ,i do collect them as they make a strong visual display,but then i also collect british parade troops as well ,for me they are toy soldiers,no more no less ,a visual historical representation of a World at war,,,

 

[Njja]

I think it is a well done line, and I certainly do not think Andy had any intention of offending anyone when he depicted this area of world history.
I have a few pieces, and support your right to carry the line.
Njja

 

[Fullyautomatic]

I like Erniesstudio's comment in regards that "they are toy soldiers,no more no less,a visual historical representation of a World at War" and an important part of history.Yes its a time alot of our families would like to forget but it is history and I think Andy has done some really fine pieces that illustrate that era.To those who choose not to purchase them I respect your comments.Its always the consumers chose to purchase something or not.
Just thank the good lord our relatives defeated this regime and fought and died for our freedom that we have today.We should also be thankful that we can afford to spend money on a hobby where others are way less fortunate than ourselves.
Didn't mean to turn that into a soapbox session.....I'm as guilty as the next.I just picked up my Fall of Berlin Germans today.

 

[Gideon]

Gideon,

Its kind of funny that our fathers and grandfathers fought that war for freedom, and now, because of the freedom our forefathers won for us, people can walk the streets of our country wearing Nazi insignia with swastika tatoos on their arms. I guess Thomas Jefferson said it best: I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will lay down my life fighting for your right to say it. (this is a paraphrase, I can't be sure its the exact quote).

Exactly. I pointed out my Normandy Invasion diorama in my front window and told them how they were instructed by Himmler to run and hide and how some comitted suicide instead facing up to their crimes. Then I asked why they idolize losers. Really messed with their heads.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Just thank the good lord our relatives defeated this regime and fought and died for our freedom that we have today.We should also be thankful that we can afford to spend money on a hobby where others are way less fortunate than ourselves.

Amen, brother.

 

[Gideon]

You know guys,

My first remark, typically, is I ask them what they have done to stop what is happening in Darfur and what they did during the Rawanda crisis. I wrote to our state senators and tried to bring these things up as often as I can.

People really seem to be caught up in this "never again" mentality when "never again" is happening every day and as I type this out to you. I also point out that there is a huge distinction between a depiction of historical events and being a true believer in the Nazi way of thinking. Just so many people refuse to let themselves see it that way. I wind up being judged on 1/2 of one shelf when throughout the rest of the store the Germans are getting crushed.

Louis can attest to that...

 

[jazzeum]

I agree with Fullyautomatic and secondly, I see merit in Gideon's last point. There is a difference between these soldiers that represent interesting historical events and advocating what they represent. I have no objection to people having them. I just have no interest in doing so. And when people are judging others what are they doing, as Gideon said, to prevent other genocides from happening. Not much (and I include myself among those not doing anything).

 

[Gideon]

My feeling on the whole subject is still mixed - I am of Jewish decent. Every army is a mortal enemy to someone - including ours.

I also represent the Egyptians who enslaved the Jewish peoples, I have Crusaders and Saracens, I have Russians and Romans, I have a whole bunch of figures who represent thousands of years of conflict, war, oppression, etc.
I guess I don't really understand why the Germans are always singled out. Stalin did his part in persecuting us, whatever.

They are all important elements of humanity. They all did horrible things, also made incredible advancements and had brilliant tacticians and thinkers.

Quite a subject. I applaude Andy for stirring the pot with these figures as well made as they are.

 

[CannonFodder1971]

I'm still uneasy about this series. Yes, I can understand why people collect parade-ground sets, yes I can imagine a nice "before" and "after" if you want to contrast your LAH18 building with the new SP blown-up version, and yes I can see that people will collect them without feeling any need to suddenly start goose-stepping around the room and start watching Leni Reifensthal videos. However, I still feel that whilst they may be beautifully sculpted and painted toy soldiers they are not something I could collect. Didn't the German-Jewish wartime philosopher Theodor Adorno not have a quote though about the unquestioning advancement of technical perfection in the absence of moral capacity? (I think he said something on the lines that the V1, a brainless, pilotless killing machine, had become the epitome of his fellow countrymen in the Nazi era). I'd just feel that whilst it's technically a very well done toy soldier set, and whilst I'd respect people's right to buy and sell them, I'd feel a little uneasy owning them. (Not a hysterical lynch-mob opposition to people buying or selling them but a sense of unease nonetheless).

 

[jazzeum]

I think the difference between the Romans or the Saracens on the one hand and the Nazis on the other is that the former is ancient history and the latter very recent history. We certainly don't know as much about the Romans as we do about Nazi Germany. One is relatively fresh in our minds while the other isn't. After all, people who fought the Nazis are still around while the others have been confined to historical memory.

That is the reason why people "pick" on the Nazis. Why not the Russians who were as brutal as the Germans? I think the perception is that the majority of Russian people went along with Stalin's policies but not enthusiastically whereas the German people were by and large enthusiastic participants in the Nazi regime and that you could not separate the people from the state. There was opposition to be sure (see my post about youth opposition to the Nazis) but it was not widespread and the Nazis enjoyed the approval of the German people.

 

[CannonFodder1971]

Brad's point about German participation in the regime apparatus is a good one but for many Germans the whole "Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit" (coming to terms with the past) debate has subsided a little. In the 50s there was the huge effort at economic reconstruction but politically Germany was retarded, and Grass' character Oscar in 'The Tin Drum' was a good characterization of this, a paedomorph who wouldn't develop beyond certain narrow limits. Obviously the 60s reaction to political docility was severe, and violent, but from student protest to Red Army Faction atrocities just showed how unstable the process of rebuilding a proper public sphere was becoming. Certainly though the 70s and 80s historians debates (a parallel for political debate for many) on how Auschwitz became possible were fascinating, especially when it facilitated the exposition of those who used the Berlin Wall and the Cold War in general as a fig leaf for their unreconstructed beliefs on Russia's place in Europe, and Germany's too. Although I know that some German toyshops such as Berliner Zinnfiguren do stock the LAH range I just know, from the German people I know at any rate, that the LAH would be just an unacceptable normalisation of the period from 1933-1945.

 

[Eazy]

I've seen this set on display at K&C stalls at fairs and to look at it's an amazing collection. However the subject matter really makes me feel uneasy and i couldn't imagine having it on display in my house.
I do realise though that that is a double standard as i have a few WaffenSS pieces on display in the form of the Normandy series.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Eazy,

I don't think that you are excercising a double standard, because I think the Waffen SS and the LAH have certain differentiating features: (1) Waffen SS were fighting soldiers, so are necessary to a display honoring our troops to show the difficult opposition they were up against; (2) by the last year of the war, while there were still many evil fanatics in the Waffen SS, there were some conscripts (and I choose to exercise the assumption that my Waffen SS figures are all from this catagory); and (3) while the Waffen SS committed many atrocities of their own (like Malmady), at least they were not in charge of the death camps like the worthless black uniformed SS.

 

[gk5717]

You know what I thought when they first came out. Why waste a series on marching figures when you could be doing some regular military figures.
That is why at first I was not going to buy them.
But the series is so well done and it is part of history that I did end up buying the charector figures and a few of the marching figures.
Personally I think it,s no big deal, but having said that, I also remember thinking that when they first came out someone may take offense at these.
Gary

 

[Doug Stork]

Ive Been Colllecting Toy Soldiers For A Long Time Since I Was A Child And I Can Honestly Say King & Country Was Not The First Company To Make An Lah Series .soldat Of Spain Made A Viewing Stand And Figures As Early As The Late 60's They Have Been Defunct For Sometime Sold Out Business To Almeyer I Have Military Band Sets From Them Consisting Of Kriegsmarine Luftwaffe And Wermacht 21 Figs Per Band Mixed With Early K&c Lah Series In One Of My Displaycases I Admire The Detail And Colors As Opposed To What They Represented I Do Not Condone What Happened Either As Some Of My Distant Relatives Might Have Been In The Camps

 

[victory]

I do collect the LAH series and see them as just toy soldiers representing another period in history. Nothing else. I certainly can understand others objections to having these as I had reservations of purchasing them at first but just put it in the context of having my curio shelves as reflections of times in history. I have WWII, Egyptians, American Rev., and yes pre-war berlin..(and now the latest represented by the Silk Road series).
The thoughts of friends coming over to visit and not understand why I collect the LAH series was a definite thought. I decided to locate my displays in private areas of the house which friends and family will not view under normal circumstances. This since I don't have any family or residing friends who share my same interest in this hobby of ours so my displays are really for self pleasure anyway. (That and I hate the thought of visiting kids unknowingly going through my curios)