Well, they may not actually be Catholic, as devout Buddhists often attend Catholic schools here, such as many of the wife’s family. But there’s a girls’ Catholic school up North in Chiang Mai that apparently holds an annual costume day. Imagine the horror of the farang (Western) parents when the girls’ all came out in Nazi regalia.
Story here. Something in the Thai press but with photos here.
The teachers and school admin honestly did not realize this would be offensive. Although there was some degree of action in Thailand during the war – the Bridge over the River Kwai, some bombing of Bangkok and bridges, some OSS action – Thailand largely sat the war out compared with other theaters, the population was relatively unaffected, and Thais today simply don’t know much about it. In fact, my wife’s nephew was a big Nazi fan when he was a teenager, attracted by the spiffy uniforms and salutes. Worse, he was forever trying to impress his farang (Western) uncle – me – with his “internationalism” by taking every opportunity to tell me how great he thought Hitler and the Nazis were. (I hope he out grew this. I don’t go too near him.)
This isn’t the first controversy along these lines here either. There was a Nazi-themed bar in the mid-1980s, complete with SS-uniformed waiters. The owner couldn’t underatnd why all these older farangs would walk up, spit inside, then walk away. The bar didn’t last long. (I seem to recall something similar in South Korea too.) Then there was this controversy with a wax museum in Pattaya (the sign reads: “Hitler is not dead.”)
And then there was the local American newspaper columnist who in the mid-1990s reported seeing a big-name Bangkok department store selling posters of Hitler. Asking the clerk why, he was told: “Because he was a funny man.” All he could reckon was they had mistaken Hitler for Charlie Chaplin.
I really cannot wrap my head around how an entire country could be blind to a large part of world history.
But they’re not even blind to it because they were able to learn about the pageantry and the uniforms and Hitler’s mustache and everything. How can you learn all of that without learning its purpose?
So I take it you know all the highlights of thailand’s political history? People just don’t know things that don’t affect them and happened nearly 50 years on the other side of the planet.
Poor taste, but it is interesting how an unbiased group of people can reach the worst possible decision by not putting enough thought into it.
No but that’s the deal…they know enough about it to have very nice, detailed costumes and decorations.
If I was going to throw a Thailand fancy dress I’d think that if I was going to end up in some sort of “I’ll Kill Your Mother Mask” I would know that is what I was wearing.
I would not be surprised to learn that people in Thailand do not know much about WWII. But if they knew enough to even draw a Nazi symbol, I would be (and am) surprised they don’t know anything more about it.
Getting the details right is no big deal in the era of the internet - just look in Google pictures for samples. That the teachers/admin’s didn’t twig to the potential problem with westerner’s I think goes a long ways towards showing the cultural differences.
And, it’s been 65 years. If Nazi’s weren’t a convenient trope for evil in Western movies, I think that the stigma would be fading in this half of the globe, also. You can say ‘never forget’, but people do without reminders.
Weabos: I’ve heard much the same thing about the Japanese’s treatment of Nazism. It’s seen as just another faction in just another war and dressing up as a Nazi is not much different than dressing up as a Redcoat or a Legionary. Is it true?
A bit of a hijack, but how did Hitler’s racial “experts” reconcile themselves to having the Japanese as allies?
Hitler also courted the Muslims-people like the “Grand Mufti” of Jerusalem.
Hard to see how these people could be considered “aryans”.
Nazi race “science” was pretty muddled. You can’t build an edifice of logic on a foundation of irrational prejudice.
But the general idea was that while the Aryans were the top race on Earth, there were other races that had their places. In this particular case, that place was Asia which it was okay for the Japanese to rule. Hitler was also willing to concede (at least before WWII started) that the British could rule over Africa and India and the United States could rule over North and South America. The Aryans would rule Europe and Russia.
