A Texas business owner has become popular on social media after he refused to repair two World War II-era Hitler Youth knives, brought in by Nazi sympathisers. Johnathan Sibley, co-owner of the Blade Bar in Edom, took issue with not only the knives but also with the specific repair requests by the customers with the entire incident caught on camera.
As per the clip, the couple, who remain unidentified, entered the store at about 1 pm localtimee, carrying two sheathed knives. “What are we wanting to put in,” Mr Sibley could be heard asking the customers in the exchange caught on video.
“I need the emblem out of that,” the woman replied, pointing towards a Nazi symbol on the handle of the knife, adding that she wanted it placed on the second weapon.
“Nope, won’t do it,” Mr Sibley responded immediately.
“Nope, you’ve got Nazi bulls**t. If you wanted a modern German forestry seal of something in…I will de-Nazify s**t but I won’t re-Nazify s**t.”
As per the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, Hitler Youth was the youth body of the Nazi Party which sought to indoctrinate the children into the Nazi ideology. The group was declared illegal after the war.
Quizzed about the incident, Mr Sibley told CBS19: “I have spent more time on TikTok in the past three days than I have ever spent on TikTok cumulatively and it’s not even watching videos just trying to read and respond to comments,”
“Shame on the people who walked in there,” Rabbi Neal Katz of Congregation Beth El in Tyle thanked Mr Sibley for his effort. “We are literally having apparently parents or grandparents go in there and trying to get paraphernalia which is so offensive and disgusting to the world but they do it so brazenly and openly.”
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Internet reacts
As the video went viral, hundreds of social media users praised Mr Sibley for standing his ground against hate and ensuring that the Nazi sympathisers were called out for their beliefs.
“You are a man of honour making a positive impact,” said one user while another added: “Thank you for standing up to the hate by refusing these people’s disgusting beliefs!”
A third commented: “This is fantastic!!! Thank you for standing up and saying you won’t do it. “De-Nazify, not Re-Nazify.”
Hitler led Germany into World War II as leader of the Nazi party and ordered the Holocaust genocide, where six million Jews were murdered.