D-Day museums targeted by thieves

A BURGEONING international market for second world war memorabilia is putting strain on the numerous small museums that commemorate the 1944 D-Day landings, which are increasingly under the eye of unscrupulous collectors, French police say.

Two recent thefts have highlighted poor security at the more than 25 collections - mainly in private hands - which draw thousands of summer visitors along the Normandy coast. In one incident, the booty included a rare German "Enigma" encoding machine which investigators suspect was stolen to order.

In the other, scores of items - including several weapons - were replaced by fakes and then resold to dealers.

And if it isn't thieves, it's the government -- though in all fairness, there are a fair number of "museums' out there which are really nothing more than private collections that generate income through paid admissions (and whose ostensible status gives the "curators" an edge over ordinary collectors and dealers in getting desirable material).

Frederick Fourqumen, owner of the Dead Man's Corner museum at Saint-Come-du-Mont near Utah beach . . . has had his own difficulties after customs inspectors raided Dead Man's Corner last month on a tip-off. They confiscated 15 second world war firearms as well as explosives and bullets, which they said contravened regulations as they were still in working order. The museum is demanding their return - they include an extremely rare German FG-42 paratrooper's automatic rifle valued at £50,000.

Full article here.

Posted by David on August 3, 2008 10:20 PM