Two Dutch Jewish communal organization have filed complaints against a man for hosting a military fair that included the sale of Nazi memorabilia, reported the Netherland Times.
The Central Jewish Consultation (CJO) and the Center for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI) took action after the military fair was featured on Dutch TV show Kassa.
Available for purchase at the fair were swastikas, SS badges, SS uniforms and two yellow Star of David badges that were for sale for several hundred euros each.
One of the yellow stars still had the original wearer’s identity card attached to it.
CJO chair Ronny Nafantiel called the sale of the Nazi items “disgusting,” adding that it “really hurts” to see the memorabilia for sale.
According to the Times, the organizer of the military fair, Gaston Vrolings, said that he understood the reason people were offended but saw no reason to cancel the fairs. He insisted that fairgoers do not hold any far right sympathies.
“Officers regularly walk around here and they have never seen anything crazy. They’re just people into stuff related to the war,” he said.
However, two people have been banned from similar military fairs in the past due to extreme behavior.
The National Coordination Against Anti-Semitism’s Eddo Verdoner said that it was “naive” to believe that the fairs are only attended by collectors in light of the “emerging extremism in Europe.”
According to the European Jewish Congress, when asked for his reaction to the incident, Dutch Minister of Justice Ferd Grapperhaus said: “The glorification of Nazi ideology through the sale of Nazi objects at fairs is undesirable and morally reprehensible.”