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Why Did Mark Fuhrman Collect Nazi Memorabilia? The Former Detective Reportedly Held Some Interesting Beliefs

by Zoe Balaconis

The true crime series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story continues to remind viewers of the bizarre twists and turns of that case and the people it cast into the national spotlight. After a very long investigation, a longer trial, and hours upon hours of media scrutiny, Simpson was acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. But, not everyone walked away: Detective Mark Fuhrman, charged with investigating the high-profile case, was eventually convicted of perjury in relation to the trial. There are many questions viewers may have about this enigmatic man, but one of the strangest may be this: Why did Mark Fuhrman collect Nazi memorabilia, of all things?

Fuhrman was a detective working on the original Simpson case in the mid-'90s, but he wasn't just any detective. He was the detective who discovered the now-infamous bloodstained glove that served as the prosecution's lynchpin. The glove would have pointed directly at Simpson as the killer, but, alas, the glove didn't fit and without that evidence, the case unraveled. Fuhrman was later tried for perjury committed during the Simpson trial, with some even questioning whether he may have allegedly planted the glove to frame Simpson for the murders himself.

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Throughout the trial, the prosecution built a case around Fuhrman which pointed to him reportedly being a racist. The evidence for that alleged racism was plentiful enough too that it did some major damage. According to The Chicago Tribune, defense attorney F. Lee Bailey questioned Fuhrman about whether or not he had used racial slurs during or before the Simpson trial. Fuhrman said "no" four times, which directly contradicted hard evidence in the form of audio tapes recorded by screenwriter Laura McKinny.

"It was Fuhrman's own voice that contradicted his testimony when a screenwriter later played parts of a tape-recorded interview in which he used the word 'n-----' at least 40 times and spewed other racial venom," court reporters wrote at the time.

The tape was only one of many examples used to prove his reported racism. In The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, there is even a brief mention of Fuhrman's collection of Nazi memorabilia — which is actually true. Fuhrman, indeed, was a collector of Nazi memorabilia. But why? It can only be assumed that his alleged disdain for the black community was so strong that he may have aligned himself with the white supremacist values of the Nazis. No one can be sure, of course, but Fuhrman himself.

During Kathleen Bell's testimony, the Los Angeles real estate broker revealed that Fuhrman had once allegedly told her, "If I had my way ... all the n-----s would be gathered together and burned." If those opinions were truly held, his fascination with Nazism, Nazi culture, and Nazi memorabilia is not so difficult to understand.

Fuhrman's case was a difficult one: Without a doubt, it seemed to point to his alleged racism — but even so, that alone didn't prove that the evidence against Simpson (namely the bloody glove) had been planted or fabricated. Of course, when asked if he had tampered with the glove or any evidence during the Simpson investigation, Fuhrman pleaded the fifth amendment, according to the The Los Angeles Times. Given what we know about his admiration of Nazi memorabilia and all that was included on those tapes, perhaps that was for the best.