EDOM, Texas — An East Texas business is making headlines after refusing to repair two World War II-era Hitler Youth knives. The shop owner took issue, not just with the knives themselves, but with the specific repair request — leading to a firm refusal caught on camera.
Johnathan Sibley, co-owner of the Blade Bar in Edom, has had quite the career as a bladesmith — even appearing on the fifth season of “Forged in Fire.” But it’s a brief interaction with two customers that is putting him in a different kind of spotlight.
His refusal to work on a pair of Hitler Youth knives brought in by two customers has wracked up over 300,000 views on TikTok and has garnered praise all over the Internet.
“I will de-Nazisify (expletive) but I won’t re-Nazisify (expletive),” Sibley could be heard saying in theviral video.
Hitler Youth was the youth organization of the Nazi Party in Germany. The Nazis sought to indoctrinate the children into the Nazi ideology. The group was outlawed after the war, according to the National Holocaust Centre and Museum.
“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,” Sibley said in an interview with CBS19.
A 2024 study of anti-semitism in Texas from the Texas Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Advisory commission found that incidents of hatred toward Jewish people nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023. The Anti-Defamation League reported there were 8,873 anti-Semitic incidents across the U.S. in 2023.
Rabbi Neal Katz of Congregation Beth El in Tyler also saw the video and thanked owner of the store for refusing the customer’s request.
“Shame on the people who walked in there,” Katz said. “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.”
Now, Johnathan Sibley’s wife and co-owner Rhiannon wants to set an example other small businesses can follow.
“We stand our ground and we hold our morals and it’s incredibly important to us to show integrity in our business, in our life, and in everything that we do. We want to make sure that we are a part of the change that we want to see in this world,” she said.
The Sibleys are making it clear: hate doesn’t make the cut in their store.