The mysterious theft of mannequins in Nazi uniform

Some of the Nazi Germany helmets, weapons and uniforms displayed in the Oorlogsmuseum (War Museum) in Overloon, The Netherlands PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW / Reuters

Who steals Nazi military objects in the Netherlands?

Both war museums have been raided in the last two months and the thieves knew what they were looking for: SS uniforms, helmets, emblems, parachutes, firearms, binoculars ... all collector's items, and very difficult to sell in the world. market.

The police follow the trail of these memories, especially on the Internet, although the presence of an organized group under the orders of a patron is not ruled out either.

One of the looted centers had good surveillance, the other, none, and the other organizations in the sector have decided to reinforce their security on a national scale and put their most valuable pieces to safety.

Among them is the Register of the Dead, from the Auschwitz concentration camp, and a book received in 1942, for his birthday, by the Dutchman Anton Mussert, leader of the National Socialist Movement, which had about 100,000 members.

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The two books removed from public view were in the Oorlogsmuseum (War Museum) in Overloon, located in Brabant, in the south of the country, and were a temporary loan from the Institute for Studies on War, Holocaust and Genocide (NIOD ).

For its part, the Museum of the 1940-1945 War, in Loon op Zand, also to the south, has kept a fork of Hitler's personal cutlery and another of Heinrich Himmler, who was in charge of the development of the SS.

Exceptional measures that Jan de Jonge, owner of another similar gallery in the town of Ossendrecht, again in the south of the country, has not been able to apply.

Looted, his museum is the work of his life and he had no security.

It was closed because the facilities do not guarantee the recommended distance of 1.5 meters during the pandemic, and he heard nothing.

“We live in the building and they entered at night, from the back.

We didn't realize it until the next day, when we saw the damage.

It seems the work of professionals, because 23 mannequins with Nazi uniforms were taken, something very difficult to transport.

You need a truck and several people, "he says, in a telephone conversation.

After underlining that there were also memories of the Allies, which they did not touch, he adds that the police call this type of robbery “the Bulgarian method, but it could have been anyone from here;

now they focus on the Internet, because there are collectors who are very interested in these things, and if the ones they stole appear, they could follow the trail ”.

The 77-year-old De Jonge's eagerness to collect began almost without realizing it because war was a recurring topic of conversation in his home.

“I have been collecting these pieces since my youth, perhaps because the war left a deep mark on my family and it was talked about often.

I started collecting and opened the museum, ”he says.

The security measures that do protect the Eyewitness Museum, in Limburg, the southernmost Dutch province, which borders Belgium and Germany, did not prevent thieves from looting the interior.

The room guides the visitor through the European history of World War II with the help of about 150 mannequins, arranged in realistic scenes.

The onslaught took place at dawn, and in 15 minutes it was all over.

“They had display cases;

we chose not to put them so that people would appreciate what happened closely, but neither could our colleagues avoid the onslaught. "

Police from both regions are working together on the cases, and Arthur Brand - known as the art detective for his ability to recover stolen works - has found paintings by Picasso and Dalí, and facilitated the discovery of the Horses of Thorak, the sculptural group Hitler's favorite - has posted a review of these thefts on his Twitter account.

He does not rule out that there is an international band behind that knows the market well and its current sales.