The Star: March 04, 2021

The Star Thursday March 4 2021
14
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Far-right activist Chapman has
been selling Nazi toy figures
• By Kurt Bayer
A PROMINENT far-right
activist is selling plastic Nazi
toy figures, including miniature
models of Adolf Hitler.
Kyle Chapman, the former
skinhead and leader of the farright
National Front white nationalist
group and Christchurch
mayoral candidate, is selling the
plastic figures online.
The New Zealand Jewish
Council and the Holocaust Centre
of New Zealand have branded
the figures “disgusting” and
called for them to be removed
from sale.
Operating on Facebook Marketplace,
Chapman has been
advertising a range of World
War 2 figures, alongside Star
Wars, Lord of the Rings and other
children’s characters.
Included in his offerings are a
range of Nazi figures.
A “big WW2 German set”
which shows the “High Command
and the Elite Guards
defending the last position in
Berlin” comes complete with
red-and-black German flags and
other insignia, including blackclad
troops with SS insignia
armbands, behind sandbags and
fortifications.
There is also Hitler holding a
pistol, making his last stand.
The toy set was posted on
October 15, 2019 – exactly seven
months after the March 15, 2019,
mosque shootings in Christchurch,
where a lone gunman
murdered 51 Muslims during
Friday prayer.
After the attacks, 49-year-old
Chapman claimed he’d turned
his back on neo-Nazi affiliations.
He told the New Zealand
Herald in July 2019 that he was
keeping a low profile: “I don’t really
get out and about, I just hang
out with my family and that’s
about it.”
When approached by the
Herald this week, Chapman
defended his products.
“It’s just business, mate,” he said.
DEFENSIVE: Christchurch’s Kyle Chapman co-founded
the Right Wing Resistance group. Below – Chapman in
Cathedral Square in 2009.
PHOTOS: FILE ​
“It’s not Nazi-themed, it’s just
World War 2 stuff. There’s British
stuff, German stuff, Russian
stuff. Just like in World War 2,
there’s different sides.
“I just sell stuff that is already
produced – I just pass it on.”
Asked where he imports the
items from, he replied: “Mainly
from different companies in
China and America.”
“If somebody gets offended by
history, I really can’t do anything
about that,” Chapman said.
“[People] take offence from
absolutely anything – you can’t
even call a woman a woman
anymore, it’s pretty pathetic.”
Chapman, who has stood
unsuccessfully for the mayoralty
of Christchurch three times, said
children would like the figures
“because they want to play good
guys versus bad guys, that’s the
way it works.”
“There’s no point having a whole
army of British guys if they’ve got
nobody to fight,” he said.
“I’m not a Nazi – I’m against
Nazis. I actually believe that freedom
and people’s right to choose
is always acceptable, no matter
what politically-correct leftwingers
say. I think that people
are just turning into a bunch of
pussies really, and they’ve got to
accept that life is life and history
is history. You can’t change history
– that’s what the Nazis did,
they tried changing history.
“I find the left-wing way of
trying to control people and tell
them what to do very offensive…
as far as I’m concerned, it’s on
par with Nazi Germany, Chapman
said.
THEMES: German
World War 2
figures, including
one of Adolf
Hitler, have been
advertised for sale
online.
PHOTO:
SUPPLIED
After speaking to the Herald,
the site was disabled.
Chief executive of the Holocaust
Centre of New Zealand
Chris Harris, said Facebook
needed to step in to remove the
items.
“It has no place in our communities
whatsoever,” he said.
He was disgusted that anyone
could comment it was “cool” and
that people would even inquire
about purchasing it.
“This is the sort of thing we’ve
seen more and more of since
March 15 – glorification of
Nazism, people selling replicas
or recreating swastika flags – it’s
really seen an increase in this
type of material being sold.
“We just need to keep on
removing this sort of thing from
the street,’’ Harris said
Juliet Moses, spokeswoman
for the New Zealand Jewish
Council, said while it’s not illegal
to trade in such figures in New
Zealand, they have been outlawed
in other countries.
“You would just have to hope
that people who see this understand
the context and that it’s
glorifying Nazis,” she said.
“The issue will be people who
don’t understand that, especially
if kids see it and think it just
looks normal . . . and that is a
concern.”
“It’s frightening that this type
of glorification continues to happen,’’
Moses said.
A spokesman for Facebook in
New Zealand said everything on
Facebook Marketplace must follow
its “community standards.”
“These standards include a
section on dangerous individuals
and organisations, which includes
organised hate,” he said.
Facebook’s prohibited content
policy states that listings may not
contain “misleading, violent, or
hateful products and offers.”
A Lego spokeswoman said the
items have “absolutely nothing”
to do with the popular global toy
brand.
“The bricks aren’t Lego bricks,
the set isn’t designed by us, and
the business is not affiliated with
us in any way,” she said.
Nazi-themed characters have
surfaced several times over the
years around the world.
In 2014, internet auction
site eBay removed characters
depicting Hitler and Nazi figures
– even a concentration camp
officer.
And in 2017, a German father
campaigned to stop similar figures
being sold on Amazon.
Two years ago, online
shopping platform giant Ali
Express followed suit, removing
a toy set featuring figures
wearing Nazi SS uniforms and a
miniature Hitler after receiving
complaints. – NZ Herald
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