Further to Tim forwarding us the news that NatGeoTV have pulled Nazi War Diggers from their schedule...

I remember someone raising earlier in this (justified) furore the issue of Latvia's historic preservation laws.  NatGeo's initial response specifically cited their 'contact' with the Latvian War Museum.

The following link strongly suggests that not only was the Latvian War Museum not involved in the programme, but was incensed at being used as justification:

http://conflictantiquities.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/national-geographic-clearstory-nazi-war-diggers-latvian-war-museum-contact-lie/

The Latvian War Museum "did not approve of Nazi War Diggers, it does not approve of Nazi War Diggers and, in fact, it tried to stop Nazi War Diggers"

Also note that the link strongly indicates that there was no contact between Nazi War Diggers and the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge [VDK]).  I'm in contact with colleagues in Germany and Austria to try and verify that point.


NatGeo TV also claimed to be working closely with a Latvian group called Legenda.  Legenda themselves have reacted via the following statement:

http://kurlandlegends.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/legenda-and-our-involvement-in-the-upcoming-national-geographic-program-nazi-war-diggers/

As that link notes, Legenda are a "non-profit all volunteer group".  They urge us not to judge them on the basis of the brief clip that was on NatGeoTV's website.

Fortunately, we can judge their methods via their own YouTube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sLZrxjMTGQ&list=UUMruBwg2aPxggZVIch394Cg

Oops.


It would also appear that Nazi War Diggers 'expert' Craig Gottlieb has been accused of allegedly selling fraudulent Hitler and broader Nazi memorabilia:

http://www.adroystermilitaria.com/Dissecting_a_Fraud.php

The same item can still be purchased (as of this writing) via the "for sale" section of Mr. Gottlieb's own "History Hunter" website:

http://www.craiggottlieb.com/engine/inspect.asp?Item=6475&Filter=German+Militaria



Summed up, the more I look at what's happened here, the worse it gets.  If the worst case scenario is confirmed, this isn't just a case of the allegedly unethical exhumation of war remains, but rather potentially involved NatGeoTV broadcasting the allegedly unethical exhumation of war remains led by an alleged fraudster in conjunction with apparently well-intentioned but clearly misguided wholly amateur local groups, and without cooperation from - indeed, in one case allegedly opposed by - the relevant local museums and war graves groups; and then allegedly attempting to mislead us over the extent of cooperation with the relevant local museums.

Summed up even more pithily, if the above is all true (and at this point we have to keep liberally sprinkling 'allegedly') it's clearly a first order fuck-up.

No wonder it's been pulled.



Alasdair Brooks

Joint Editor, Post-Medieval Archaeology (http://www.spma.org.uk/publications/journal-of-post-medieval-archaeology/)
Editor, Society for Historical Archaeology Newsletter (http://www.sha.org/publications/newsletter.cfm)