Human Reich Watch

Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch’s senior military analyst, is shaking things up in the human rights community. It wasn’t always cool to wear Nazi insignia while drinking beers with your fellow anti-Israel activists. Some in the human rights community even frowned on that kind of behavior. But not anymore. HRW is standing by Garlasco, and Garlasco has come out swinging against his critics who, because they “aren’t fascinated by military history,” assume that his hobby of collecting, photographing, caring for, and even wearing Nazi memorabilia is “weird” and even a tad inappropriate. Garlasco, though, does make some small concession to reality::

I deeply regret causing pain and offense with a handful of juvenile and tasteless postings I made on two websites that study Second World War artifacts (including American, British, German, Japanese and Russian items). Other comments there might seem strange and even distasteful, but they reflect the enthusiasm of the collector, such as gloating about getting my hands on an American pilot’s uniform.