Last year me and Anne went to Bibione in Italy. We had an amazing time and will be going again in a few weeks. I would tell you more about the trip but in this post I want to show you something which we found both amusing and worrying. We found Hitler, and not in the way that one might find Jesus. Our first encounter was in a small grocery shop at the checkout. Whilst we were in the queue we saw what can only be described as Nazi memorabilia. Adolf Hitler lighters in a variety of designs and colours. They also had Mussolini and Stalin lighters but there were significantly more Hitler lighters and also fridge magnets and post cards. This amused us so much that we thought we would take pictures to post on Snapchat and to show to friends and family, but it also worried us because we wondered who was buying this stuff. If they're stocking it then they must be selling it right?
As our holiday progressed we noticed that there were at least a dozen or so shops that sold the exact same selection of Nazi memorabilia. We've been to quite a few different countries and never before have we seen anything remotely to do with Nazis being sold, so why Italy? Anyway, all of our previous encounters with Hitler had been blown out of the water when we met him for the last time. We went in to a gift shop and were confronted with what this time we could only describe a shrine to Hitler. an entire cabinet stocked with expensive Hitler wines and spirits and protected by lock and key. Again we wondered who actually buys this stuff. We can understand someone paying three euros for a lighter as a jokey gift for a friend, but an eighty two euro bottle of wine.
Like I said we're going again in three weeks so we will update you on whether they still sell the Nazi memorabilia when we get back.
Thanks for reading, much appreciated.