Photo by Mauricio Katz
The Lagunilla is the biggest flea market in Mexico City. If you spend enough time there, you can find anything in the world. Even Nazis.
Sitting between fake Aztec blankets and eyeless Bart Simpson dolls, there's a stand that specializes in Third Reich memorabilia and racial literature. Mexican skinheads run it. Real, live, racist Mexican skins.
Their table is full of swastikas: on T-shirts, banners, jackets, books, helmets, and armbands. The two proprietors are Manolo, a mousy guy who works as a graphic designer, and Victor, a bald, chubby man who is a forensic M.D. When Vice visited, Manolo's small son was running around with a WWII German helmet on his head, clutching an original Nazi wooden club.
VICE: Can I interview you guys?
Manolo: Does it have anything to do with Israel?
Umm…no.
OK then.
So, how's business?
Victor: A lot of people look down on us, but we aren't selling ideologies here. Our products sell well because they're famous. Even if their meaning is destruction, they also encourage power. Those who buy from us span from the most ignorant to the smartest. We don't have things that could harm anyone or foment racism. That's up to the people who buy them.
You must catch a lot of shit.
Sure, we are attacked for what the stand represents. But sometimes even Jews come to buy from us for their theatrical plays. I imagine that they use them with another tone than we would, but we don't stand for any political posture. We just sell military antiques. There are even some people who buy them for fashion.
Come on. You're selling Nazi armbands. You must have at least one or two strongly held convictions, let's say.
We do believe in the Nazis, but more in their example of hard work and discipline. There are three noble points: honor, loyalty, and discipline. It takes discipline to maintain a stand like this. There are a lot of people who come here and just sit around waiting to steal from us. Plus, the police are always picking on us.
Is there anything else you're into besides the Nazi thing?
I also collect Star Wars action figures.
TATIANA LIPKES