Harlan Crow, friend of Justice Clarence Thomas, keeps Nazi souvenirs at home, report says

Shortly after revelations that Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow lavished Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, with use of a private jet, trips on a luxury yacht and vacations in an exclusive mountain retreat, the twitterverse went agog over the weekend with talk of what Crow collects in his Texas home.

Apparently the Texas real estate magnate keeps a collection of Nazi memorabilia including paintings by Adolf Hitler, a signed copy of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and even table napkins embroidered with swastikas. There is even a collection of statues of dictators such as Lenin, Stalin, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito.

The Washingtonian wrote: “But despite Crow’s discomfort, the reporter did manage to see the garden of dictator statues, describing it as a ‘historical nod to the facts of man’s inhumanity to man.’”

According to the article, Crow said he did not commission the statues. They apparently came from town squares in Asia and Europe, according to Crow, then smuggled to the West.

“I still can’t get over the collection of Nazi memorabilia,” the Washingtonian quoted an anonymous source as saying, regarding a visit to Crow’s Texas home. “It would have been helpful to have someone explain the significance of all the items. Without that context, you sort of just gasp when you walk into the room.”

Reactions on Twitter were swift and furious: