Abstract

The essay analyses the collecting of memorabilia associated with National Socialism. Starting from the symbolic role of memory-related objects in the Germany of the Great Weimar War, it is highlighted how the Nazi symbolic policy also involved everyday objects. The appropriation of both military and everyday objects by Allied soldiers laid the basis for a collecting spree that has been stimulated by the advent of the internet and has caused growing concern in public opinion. The problem does not lie in the objects themselves, but in the persistent topicality of their symbolic content, a topicality confirmed by the recent revival of extreme right-wing movements.