Distraught Man Calls Cops Over Nazi, Confederate Items At Flea Market

A Connecticut man called police after spotting Confederate and Nazi memorabilia on sale at a local flea market, telling authorities he “was shaking and almost vomiting” after he encountered the items. The incident happened the July 4 weekend, but was first reported by local news outlets last week.

The man told the Record-Journal newspaper that the Redwood Flea Market in Wallingford, Conn. was selling several showcases full of German helmets with swastikas, images of Adolf Hitler and Stars of David.

“I was shaking and almost vomiting,” the man, who is Jewish, told the paper. “I had to run. My grandmother had numbers,” he said, referring to the tattooed numbers given to concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust. He asked the paper to protect his anonymity, citing possible backlash from other town residents.

The man also said the seller told him he was selling so many Civil War-era Confederate weapons and flags lately that he was having a hard time keeping them in stock. The flea market owner disputed the man’s account of how many items were on sale that day.

Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., who the complainant also contacted about the market, said he had to check “what is actionable and what isn’t” with the police chief, who confirmed to the Record-Journal that selling the memorabilia on private property isn’t criminal conduct.

Joshua Sayles, a spokesman for the regional Anti-Defamation League, said serious collectors trading authentic war artifacts isn’t immoral, but most are cheap replicas, purchased as symbols of hate.

“It’s not a crime but I would call it hate. People look at the situation in Charleston and say it’s down in the South. But this stuff is here in Connecticut,” Sayles said.