Editorial: Don't forget our past

Rotorua Collectors Centre owner Walter Dobbs, who sells war memorabilia, says he is exercising his freedom of choice by showing the swastika flag of the Third Reicht in his shop window.

Rotorua is now engaged in its own flag debate, but the flag in question holds some rather nasty connotations.

But taking offence to anything is a totally subjective process and even if you do find the Nazi swastika abhorrent that is no reason to hide it from view and pretend it does not exist.

Until the 1920s the swastika was a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and meant "well-being" or "good fortune".

Since then, and especially in the Western world, it has taken on an almost opposite connotation.

Stocking the Nazi symbol for sale is not uncommon, although perhaps not displayed in the front window like Rotorua's Walter Dobbs did, and it is still a potent symbol in today's society.

The Jewish community around the world does a very good job in reminding people about the holocaust - as it should. But a ban on the sale of Nazi memorabilia such as the swastika, as suggested by New Zealand Jewish Council chairman Stephen Goodman, is a step too far.

There are few people in this world who continue to glorify it in terms of its Nazi symbolism.

We cannot forget our past lest we make the same mistakes in the future.

A handful of World War II veterans I have known over the years had Nazi memorabilia in their homes - displayed next to some of their own wartime collections.

This did not in any way mean they supported the regime.

Let's not forget the flag of the former Soviet Union under the leadership of Stalin, who committed heinous atrocities of his own.

Are we to ban its use or sale?

And for many millions of people around the world the Stars and Stripes of the United States of America is seen as a modern symbol of hatred, genocide and oppression, and is equally offensive to those people.

I agree with Associate Professor of Philosophy at Auckland University, Tim Dare, who said Mr Dobbs was "a shopkeeper who sells war memorabilia. It is probably a mistake to take any message from his display of the flag, other than an invitation to purchase it".