Content warning: this piece features imagery of Nazi Memorabilia and references to Neo-Nazis and their views and violent actions.
Background
In January 2026 local auction house Harper Field listed for sale a large number of Third Reich/Nazi items, a significant number of which were reproductions. Individuals and organisations approached Harper Field privately to ask the company to remove the items from sale. The company refused to do so and claimed not to sell replicas. On the Saturday before the sale Community Solidarity Stroud District sent the auction house a letter signed by a number of people asking it not to proceed. Since publishing the letter, many more people asked that their name be added to it (132 was the final total collected).
Harper Field sent us a copy of the Prohibited and Restricted items policy and claimed to be operating in accordance with this. This policy applies to all auctions listed on The Saleroom (part of the Auction Technology Group), the international on-line platform for auctions. Prohibited items include “Nazi Artefacts unless established as legitimate historical artefacts.” Harper Field had listed many items as reproductions, see images below.
It is a relief to know that The Saleroom/ATG not only has a flagging system which identifies restricted and prohibited items listed on its site, but also takes action to enforce the policy and did so in respect of Harper Field. The sale was cancelled on 10th February.
The above examples were not isolated but we do not wish to publish every example here. The screenshot below, from the BBC coverage of our campaign, shows an array of print-outs of lots described as containing reproductions:
Nazi memorabilia and Far Right Violence
We have said that Nazi and Third Reich artefacts should be in museums or educational establishments. We want to engage with this history seriously and learn from it – private collections are not a means for people to do this. Instead, the sale of Nazi artefacts, and reproductions in particular, feeds a desire by some people to collect items that are connected to their ideology. We are not saying that everyone who owns any items of Nazi memorabilia will go on to engage in violence or terrorism. But of the neo-Nazis who have engaged in violence/terrorism, it is very common that they are found to have stashes of memorabilia. Hopefully this makes clear why we are concerned that such material is traded in auctions rather than kept in musuems for historic interest.
The links between the far right and terrorism were highlighted by MI5 in October 2024, with Director General Ken McCallum saying that, of its counter terrorism work, the focus is “25% extreme right-wing terrorism“.
To provide only a few examples, the following people convicted of terrorism charges in the UK were collectors of Nazi propaganda.
David Copeland. In 1999 Copeland, a neo-Nazi whose bedroom was “decorated like a nazi shrine”, planted 3 bombs over a series of weeks. The first in Brixton injured 28 people; another a week later in Brick Lane injured 13 people; and the third at The Admiral Duncan pub in Soho killed 3 people and severely injured 79 more. You can read more about this case from antifascist magazine Searchlight: “25 years on: The hunt for the London nailbomber” (2024), or from the BBC: “Soho nail bomber David Copeland sentenced for prison attack” (2015).
Thomas Mair. In 2016, Mair murdered MP Jo Cox at her constituency office. “Police who later raided his house uncovered evidence of his far-right extremism. A gold Third Reich eagle ornament with a Swastika emblazoned on it, a large collection of far-right books and magazines, a press cutting on Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik, information about far right groups, Nazi badges and a “Deutschland” cap were all found in his home.” Read more about this case in The Independent, “Thomas Mair: The far-right extremist who murdered MP Jo Cox” (2016), or in The Guardian: “The slow-burning hatred that led Thomas Mair to murder Jo Cox” (2016).
Nicholas Brock. In March 2021, he was sentenced to 4 years for terrorism offences. “Police found a hoard of Nazi-era daggers, far-right literature and a framed Ku Klux Klan certificate in Nicholas Brock’s bedroom in Berkshire”, as reported by the BBC: “Maidenhead far-right ‘extremist’ jailed for terrorism offences” (2021).
Callum Parslow. In January 2025 Parslow was sentenced to life imprisonment for the attempted murder of a man seeking asylum. Thankfully his victim survived being stabbed in his chest and hand. Items in Parslow’s bedsit included “a swastika armband, a Nazi-era medallion and copies of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf”, as reported by Sky News: “Nazi-obsessed terrorist Callum Parslow jailed after trying to murder asylum seeker at Worcestershire hotel” (2025)
Peter Morgan. Morgan was jailed for 12 years in 2018 for terrorism offences. “The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Peter Morgan was in possession of bomb-making manuals as well as equipment and a selection of Neo-Nazi and other extreme right-wing paraphernalia and flags”, as reported by Scottish Legal: “Neo-Nazi in possession of explosives equipment convicted of terrorism offences” (2018).
Jack Robinson. In October 2024 Robinson was sentenced to 6 1/2 years for terrorism for terrorism offences and possessing images of children being abused. Alongside trying to make automatic weapons with a 3D printer, he also has Nazi memorabilia and a huge amount of extreme right wing material. ““Dangerous” Portsmouth man found making gun, having child images and Nazi memorabilia jailed for terrorism“, reported The News (a Portsmouth local media outlet).
Talland family. Robert, Stephen and Rosie Talland were convicted and jailed in 2025 of terrorism offences and stirring up racial hatred. The family organised and performed at far right music events. They also had Nazi memorabilia in their home alongside CD’s and promotional material for the Neo-Nazi Blood and Honour network. In summing up, the Judge at their trial said “At the time of your offending I am satisfied that each of you had a long-standing allegiance to the neo-Nazi cause. That is most clearly evidenced by the racist and antisemitic messages, videos, memes and other materials you posted via social media.The concerts were characterised by the display of extreme right-wing symbology including Nazi flags and banners, and provided a forum for the encouragement through music of racial hatred and neo-Nazi ideology.” (read more from Sky News: “Family who used neo-Nazi music to incite racial hatred jailed“).
Jack Coulson. In July 2018 Coulson, who had a previous conviction for making a pipe bomb, was jailed for 4 years 8 months for terrorism offences. He had planned to kill a Jewish MP. His bedroom was full of Nazi memorabilia and he was a supporter of banned neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action. Read more from BBC News: “Four years for Nazi teen who downloaded terror handbook“.
Others convicted of terrorism charges where Nazi memorabilia was also found in their homes include paedophile Martyn Gilleard (16 years), Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen (8 years), Mark Jones, (4 ½ years), Alice Cutter (3 years), Alan Edward (10 years), Serj Foster (4 years, Christopher Ringrose (10 years), Marco Pitzettu (8 years), Brogan Stewart (11 years) and Luke Hunter (4 years 2 months).
Another Nazi memorabilia collector, Nathan Worrell, received a 2 1/2 years sentence for stirring up racial hatred.
None of these crimes were victimless.
Wider campaigns against profiting from the Holocaust and the Slave trade
Auction Houses such as C&T Auctions , who sell and profit from Nazi artefacts say there is a strong market for it. Yet many reputable Auction Houses including Sotheby’s, Christies and Bonhams refuse to trade in any Third Reich/Nazi artefacts. Other auction houses have also decided not to trade in these items following local campaigns.
Germany (Section 86a Of the German detention Law), France, Hungary and Austria have banned the sale of Nazi memorabilia. Germany’s law has been tested and upheld in the European Court of Human Rights; this is not a “free speech” issue. There are concerns though that sellers and buyers get around the provisions of the legislation by claiming it is for educational purposes, research institutes and science and labelling it as such. There is no monitoring of the buyers or their motives, and no means of carrying out checks. Some campaigners in Europe are working on guidance to tighten the framework to reduce such abuses (“Fighting to stop the sale of Nazi items“, European Jewish Press).
In 2012, MPs put an early day motion calling for a ban on the sale of Nazi memorabilia following a sale at Dreweatts in Bristol. You can read the details of the EDM 2870 “SALE OF NAZI MEMORABILIA” on the Parliament website: “That this House deeply deplores the sale of dozens of items of Nazi memorabilia, including items of oppression belonging to Holocaust victims, which was held on 6 March 2012 by Dreweatts Auction House in Bristol; condemns other auctions of similar items which have been held by other firms previously; decries the profiteering on items promoting and glorifying hatred and violence; applauds the policies of such firms as Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams and eBay which prohibit the sale of such items; recognises that such sales are banned in France, Germany, Austria and Hungary; and calls on the Government to bring in immediate regulation and control of this abhorrent trade.” Our campaign in Stroud wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last.
There is a growing concern at Auction Houses selling and profiting from genocide and the slave trade. Cheeky Auctions in Ross is currently planning to sell neck shackles and chains linked to Slavery in Zanzibar.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said:
“If they were to be put in a museum I would understand,but buying and selling them like oddities is the same thing that people do when it comes to human remains– treating them as collector’s items, something to be fetishised rather than items that should be looked at in horror.
Why are you selling it for profit? Unless you’re trying to re-enact the history of enslavement by profiting from something used to inflict pain and oppression. We’ve got people trying give valid reasons for continuing to profit from the slave trade – that’s all it sounds like to me.”
There is a strong argument that Nazi and slave trade items should be under public stewardship. Owners could offer and donate them directly to museums and educational establishments. For a long time people have argued that people who buy these items are historians and genuine collectors. One has to ask why? Why would you want to own a Nazi Medal, a swastika or a neck shackle and chain? There is no monitoring of the buyers or their motives. The people who sell and buy reproductions of Nazi propaganda, which was produced post-1945, cannot hide behind the description of historians. It is a vile trade and reproductions should be destroyed, not sold.
We urge everyone to challenge the sale for profit of Nazi and Slave Trade artefacts.
Engaging with History
Some people have argued we want to avoid history, or brush it under the carpet. When people make this argument about ‘our history’ with regard to the involvement of the British state or British people from history in the trade of enslaved people, this is one thing. We don’t think public celebrations of slave traders help us learn about the horrors of enslavement or remind us to avoid repeating them – but perhaps there’s an argument we should see the way our society endorsed these things. But to argue that private individuals must be able to trade Nazi memorabilia and that this helps us to learn from history and not to repeat the mistakes of Naziism is quite confused.
It’s a particularly strange argument given that one of the main things we do as Community Solidarity Stroud District is hold an annual Holocaust Memorial event, doing all we can to encourage people to engage with the history of the Nazi era – and learn the lessons to prevent similar horrors today. And it is worth adding that one of the reasons we do this, and one of the reasons it is hard to hear people suggesting we want to hide the history, is because our group includes people whose families were killed by the Nazis.
We encourage anyone who wants to ‘learn from history’ to do so by visiting the Holocaust Memorial Trust website or watching videos of our previous events (see below), rather than by supporting the sale of Nazi memorabilia.
Community Solidarity Stroud District 