The Nazi Seed

Hermann Goering's great-niece: 'I had myself sterilised so I would not pass on the blood of a monster'

By Allan Hall

Descendants of the leaders of the Nazi regime have spoken on camera for the first time about the feelings of pain and revulsion they have for their ancestors. They include Bettina Goering, great niece of Adolf Hitler's second in command Hermann Goering, who says she has had herself sterilised so she would 'not pass on the blood of a monster'.

Adolf Eichmann's son Ricardo says he simply cannot find a way to explain why his father became the chief architect of the Holocaust.

While Hitler himself had no offspring, many others at the heart of the Reich had families and some of the children can remember being patted on the head by the Fuhrer.

One is Hitler's godson Niklas Frank, whose father Hans was Nazi governor of occupied Poland responsible for the death camps in which six million Jewish people were killed.

He says in the documentary Hitler's Children, by Israeli director Chanoch Zeevi, that he 'despises' his father's past and describes him as 'a slime-hole of a Hitler fanatic'.

The film also shows Monika Hertwig, daughter of Amon Goeth - the death camp commandant played in the movie Schindler's List by Ralph Fiennes --meeting a man who tells her how her father shot women and babies 'for sport'.

Zeevi said he found 'fascinating similarities' between the emotions of those related to Holocaust perpetrators and those of survivors, some of whom meet the children of their tormentors in the programme.

Frank lectures about his infamous father to young people in the former East Germany in a bid to prevent them from straying into the far-right scene that preys on the young unemployed and desperate.

'I have never managed in my life to get rid of the memory of him,' he said. 'I live with this deep shame about what he did.'

Bettina Goering lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she practices herbal medicine.

'Either side of me live Jewish neighbours,' she says, 'and they are always quarrelling. It's left to me to sort them out!'

Bettina told the programme both she and her brother were voluntarily sterilised. 'I had my tubes tied at the age of 30 because I feared I would create another monster. I look like him for a start - the eyes, the cheekbone, the profile. I look more like him than his own daughter,' she said.

The 53-year-old Goering said her father Heinz was adopted by his infamous uncle after his own father died and became a fighter pilot for the Luftwaffe.

Heinz was shot down over the Soviet Union and returned from captivity in 1952 to find that his two brothers had killed themselves because of their shame and the family's fortunes were gone.

Hermann Goering was sentenced to death along with 11 others at the Nuremberg trials in 1946, but he committed suicide by swallowing a poison pill in his cell the night before his scheduled execution.

Goering said her father, who died in 1981, never spoke about the Holocaust, or about his notorious uncle. 'But my grandmother was less evasive - she adored him,' she said.

'As head of the Red Cross in Nazi Germany she hobnobbed with the regime's other top leaders and had many pictures of herself alongside Hitler.

'We would be watching a documentary on TV together about the Holocaust and she would yell 'it's all lies, it didn't happen,'' she added.

'The hardest part is admitting that I could have liked him. I was so shocked by that,' she said. 'Now I am accepting myself more for who I am, whatever that encompasses - the good, the bad and the ugly.'

'The film is due to be completed later this year.

Mail-On Line, January 2010

Our thanks for Marc Jay Cohen for bringing this to our attenion.

Collecting Basics - Replica Field Marshal Baton

I received an e-mail today from a Paki fake peddler offering me a replica field marshal stick (baton) at a very low price. I get this type e-mail every day, seems they all think that because I run this web site I "must" be in the business of ripping off collectors with fakes. What a bunch of scumbags they all are!

There is nothing new about fake field marshal's batons, they've been around for years. The thing is all the fakes I know of up till now have been rather expensive, selling for several thousand dollars. However, this one is cheap... only $100. The good thing is, the maker only wants to sell them 10 at a time. I like that because it should slow his sales considerably.

Now I know that none of you experienced collectors would be fooled by this thing, but it could spell trouble for the newbie. The reason I'm posting this is because I can see the following happening. Some unscrupulous dealer buys 10 of these zonkers, goes to the trouble of "ageing" them, then puts one on his table at some small gun show at, what looks like a bargain price, and waits for the sucker to come buy. What's especially dangerous about this item is it's low price, which means more of them will probably pop up at a price new collecors will go for.

I haven't seen one of these in person, so I don't know how well they're made, but from the pics they look good enough to fool some people. So, if you see a field marshal's baton offered at a "bargain" price, watch out!

If you know about a "dangerous" fake and would like to share the info with our readers, please email me and we'll see if we can put the info on this Blog. You can remain anonymous if you wish. info@germanmilitariacollectibles.com

Bob Treend, Collector Basics, Militaria Blog, 2010

Most Expensive Militaria

Miliataria Items

Militaria are artifacts or replicas of military, police, etc., collected for their historical significance. Such antiques include firearms, swords, knives, and other weapons such as; uniforms, helmets, other military headgear, and armour; military orders and decorations; challenge coins and awards; badges, buttons and insignia; military art, sculpture, and prints; ephemera such as cigarette cards, photographs, antiquarian books, magazines and posters; scale models and toy soldiers; and items of combat equipment and field gear.

Today, the collecting of militaria is an established hobby among many groups of people. Many European families, specifically those royal families with long martial tradition, have large collections of militaria passed down from generation to generation. Also, many people today collect militaria for investment purposes, as the value of extremely rare antiquities almost never goes down.[citation needed]

An alternate name, used by many dealers, for militaria is 'military antiquities' or 'military antiques'.

Military miniaturism

Emphasis on realism, historical accuracy and scale congruity of the miniatures and their painting/finishing are important aspects of this hobby. Knowledge of history, events and geography also play a role in the development of subjects and themes. Complexity ranges from the simple assembly and painting of a model kit out of the box to the complete scratch building of a vehicle, aircraft or ship from materials such wood, plastic, metal or resin. Miniaturists compete for prizes and recognition among their peers in contests in most countries at various times of the year. The cost and skills involves mean that this has increasingly become a hobby for grown-ups rather than children, though there are still many kits suitable for completion by youngsters.

Often the military miniaturist will combine different kinds of miniatures in the same diorama; for example: vehicles and figures; aircraft and vehicles.