German militaria collector and his wife shot and burned in their house near Paderborn!

[JensF.]

Today in the news! Connie and Ingo Gratzik from Paderborn were shot this morning in their house. After that the bodies were burned and unknown items from his militaria collection stolen.

http://www.wdr.de/themen/panorama/brand02/...aus/index.jhtml

http://www.fuldainfo.de/page/include.php?p...f4706debf898918

http://www.presseportal.de/polizeipresse/p...y.htx?nr=756947

[Stogieman]

Well that's about the saddest thing I've heard in a very long time....

[Claudio]

Hi Jens! Hi Stogie!

That's more than sad... it's just unbelievable! It's not the first time that I have read lately about thefts of entire collections on commission, but that thieves are ready to kill to steal Militaria is really very worrying. My brother told me several times I shouldn't post my medals on different forums. Everybody can browse on our collectors' forums get some info about collection and their location and steal from them. Just the thought of that is very disturbing to say the least! I am referring also to some special sections of specialized Militaria forums where collectors can show their collectibles and their displays. I don't even want to think how many dishonest people could follow these threads and? well I better don?t even think about it, that scares me!

Just my 2 cents...

Ciao,

Claudio

[David Gregory]

I mentioned this earlier:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3810&hl=

[Wild Card]

Claudio,

You bring up a good point. This is why the bulk of my collection, and certainly the most valuable pieces, are kept in places other than my home. Nevertheless, that does not completely solve the problem in that the thieves very likely do not know in advance exactly what?s where; and, ultimately the result is the same - in this case, possibly, two people dead with the bulk of the collection safely intact elsewhere.

It is exactly for this reason that, during the short time that I have participated in online forums that I have hesitated, even refrained, from posting certain items. So, we have a couple of interconnected problems here; is there an answer?

Possibly. When faced with this dilemma, I have wondered if there might be a way to post pictures on an anonymous basis? I see this as being done in one of two ways.

First, and I am not sure if this is feasible, would be to set up a separate section/forum where pictures could be posted anonymously. The pictures would then be forwarded to the appropriate thread. The second way would be to forward the pictures to a third party who would then post them as such.

Aside from the obvious personal tragedy that has occurred here, this situation, as applied to our forum, restricts the sharing of information which is what this, as I see it, is all about.

Does anyone else have any ideas or suggestions with regard to this situation?

Regards,

Wild Card

Edited December 2, 2005 by Wild Card

[Ulsterman]

That level of violence in Europe suggests a Neo-Nazi or Russian mob connection.

However, having said that, there are good reasons not to use ones real name and to "trust, but verify "others here on the open forums. I have been collecting for many years and heard many, many, many horror stories within this hobby. It was by the grace of God himself that Angolia did not end up similarly situated as the man above only a few years ago.

By its nature it is not stamp or Teddy Bear collecting and although there are good folks here, a few of whom I have met at one point or another, there is always reason to be cautious. It is too easy to track down people these days.

[Paul R]

Although I do not have any items that I would think would place me as a target, I am still looking at changing my "name" and information. It is a real shame. I use my original data because I want to be open with my friends here on the web. Recently, I had more than one person from my past find me as a result of my posts here.

I never really thought about the full risk associated by placing detailed information until reading this thread... Scary

Regards

Paul

Edited December 3, 2005 by Paul Reck