This and That
Issue: 3.07 this is column 94
July 1, 2002
Can You Believe This Shmendreck?

Jewish man who collected Nazi memorabilia has been convicted of storing an arsenal in a Brooklyn warehouse where cops found photographs of his 6-month-old daughter cloaked in an SS uniform, sitting behind an Israeli Uzi, and holding a 9 mm semiautomatic.

"It's pretty freaky stuff," Assistant District Attorney Paul D'Emilia said of the pictures of the girl with the guns.

"They seem to be loaded, because the clip was in there and the child's finger was on the trigger."

In addition to weapons charges, a jury also found Michael Kneitel, 40, a Borough Park resident who was raised an Orthodox Jew, guilty of endangering the welfare of a child.

Kneitel was busted early last year after an off-duty police officer spotted him taking target practice at a picture of his mother-in-law at Brooklyn's Gateway National Recreation Area.

A later search of a Bath Beach warehouse turned up a cache of fully assembled and loaded weapons, including two assault rifles, three standard rifles and 14 assorted handguns - plus the frightening photographs.

"He felt posing her in the uniform with guns would increase their value," D'Emilia said.

Cops also reported finding SS flags, a Nazi uniform and photos of Kneitel dressed in Nazi regalia.

Kneitel's lawyer, Jeffrey Schwartz, described his client as a mechanic who collects World War II memorabilia as a hobby.

"That's just a way that these people buy and sell and trade this stuff - advertise," he said.

He noted that Kneitel lived with his daughter and her mother pending trial after child-welfare officials found the home suitable.

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