Quite a few people get pissed. Not me, though. Yes, yours truly, this Jewish race-mixer, is not up in arms. Why not?
Because it was a re-enactment, for fuck’s sakes! I mean, I hate Nazis and dislike Republicans as much as the next guy, but let’s be honest: he was dressing as a Nazi for the purpose of a historical re-enactment, not (AFAIK) to show support for Nazism or Neo-Nazi groups. Hell, the group Rich Iott was a part of even has the following disclaimer on its webpage:
This page or anyone involved in its creation, or members of reenactment groups listed here, are in no way affiliated with real, radical political organizations (i.e., KKK, Aryan Nation, American Nazi Party, etc.) and do not embrace the philosophies and actions of the original NSDAP (Nazi party), and wholeheartedly condemn the atrocities which made them infamous. May the victims of this unspeakable horror rest in peace.
His own party is throwing him under the bus, though:
The House Republicans’ No. 2 leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, said Sunday he would not support someone who would dress up in a Nazi uniform.
Don’t people realize that somebody needs to be the bad guy in a movie/performance/play/re-enactment?
I’d have no problem with that, so long as it was a group devoted to performance, historical re-enactment, and authentic costumes and NOT a group espousing the policies of Bin Laden or anyone else in Al-Qaeda. Same thing with the Nazis. In my younger days I participated in Civil War re-enactments as both a Union and Confederate soldier. It was fun and educational and I don’t recall anyone espousing any racial philosophies.
Well, lots of people play video games where they essentially do that. Dressing up and doing it is just the low tech equivalent.
But getting back to the Nazi issue. Doesn’t that particular group go a little bit too far in their “celebrating the warrior spirit” of the individual SS soldiers? Maybe someone more familiar with the details can fill in the gaps, but I’m not so sure those guys are just innocent history buffs.
From what I’ve read (and I’m perfectly willing to admit that my sources may be biased), it’s not so much that it was a bunch of re-enactors but that they picked the Waffen-SS and that the website didn’t look all that innocent. That’s not exactly the same as being re-enacting part of the Wehrmacht Heer.
If I can make a somewhat crappy comparison, nobody would give a politician grief because he was on the Confederate side of Civil War re-enacting but there would be lots of questions if one was trying to somehow re-enact the First KKK from the Reconstruction Era.
So, umm, if all you’re really interested in is WWII why;
Isn’t it on your campaign’s website and why have your name and photographs removed from the Wiking website?
Not just just be a regular ol’ Wehrmacht soldier and NOT be devoted to re-enacting the exploits of a fucking SS unit that participated in war crimes and had Josef Fucking Mengele as an alumni?
So do they round up civillians and drain them to simulated-death for their bloodbank (preferably children, since they were less likely to have VD)
So be sure to bring the kids! Even if they don’t donate blood, you can still eat knockwurst and laugh at the little useless eaters when they beg.
The regular German army were assholes, and only an asshole would admire them. If your desire to play “shoot the Russian Commies,” comes from sound Republican values, you can still dress up as Poles or Finns or even American Doughboys
Gee, couldn’t possibly be because he was worried that something exactly like this, wherein people would jump to irrational conclusions without taking something into context first, would happen and ruin his political career for no good reason?
Were those units not involved in the war? Were they not part of history? Should we just ignore them completely because of the horrible things they did? I thought the whole point of Holocaust scholarship was to remind people of what happened so that it wouldn’t ever happen again. What do we gain by pretending the SS or Mengle never existed? Reenacters are devoted to reliving the war for reasons of historical scholarship, so why are we only allowed to portray the “good” Nazis? I guess all those actors who played Hitler on film should start shitting themselves, huh?
Again, unless new information comes to light to prove that this person is a Neo-Nazi, I couldn’t care less.
Since when does a reenactment imply that the people involved admire the people they portray? They have a disclaimer on their page specifically mentioning that they DON’T admire the SS. This is an issue that has haunted Nazi and Confederate reenacters for decades.
Not sure. The guy in question said that he has re-enacted American WW2 soldiers, Union and Confederate soldiers, and Nazis, but I’m not sure of the actual orientation of their reenactments. Either way, there’s nothing wrong with cosplay so long as the ideology doesn’t creep into it. This is a mountain out of a molehill (again, AFAIK at the moment).
Well, I’ve known people who “play act” in re-enactments, and they were definitely not Nazis. It was like being in a play or a movie, they were simply the villains. (and they ALWAYS lost).
In civil war reenactments, there are two sides, and it is my impression that the groups (of two sides) frequently reenact specific battles. I don’t know, but is it the case in civil war groups that people tend to “switch” sides in different reenactments?
In this case, was there another “side” playing along? Were they reenacting battles? Or is this simply a case of a bunch of guys who thought it was cool to play dress up in SS uniforms?
Generally not. Uniforms and equipment are not cheap. I’ve known some folks to be in multiple units in Rev War but don’t know of anyone who swings from side to side in the ACW.
