Mongoose at SALUTE - Saturday April 21st
- Thread starter Old Bear
- Start date
Hiromoon said:
Indeed. There is quite a thread about it on theminiaturespage.com ("Just back from Salute...") (where I post as Goober).
Basically, every year Salute has a group of re-enactors. Last year it was English Civil war (if memory serves), the year before was Roman Legions and so on.
This year it was 2nd Battle Group, who pose as the 1.SS.Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, or, in plainer terms, a German SS division.
In and of itself people dressing up as German WWII soldiers wasn't a problem, and I think that had there been a cross section of German uniforms it wouldn't have been a problem for most people, but much of the controvesy has surrounded the choice of division (notorious for being "Hitlers own" and carrying out several alleged and documented atrocities) and the inclusion of several of their children dressed as Hitler Youth. There were also female members dressed as nurses and a strange "life on the home front" diorama of a typical Nazi home, with signed pictures of Hitler, swastika flags and various Nazi parephenalia.
However, for me, this was just some misguided berks making the wrong decision about what to dress up in. What I found the most disturbing aspect was the sale of various pieces of merchandise bearing swastikas and Adlof Hitlers image, for instance a mug with a flag on one side and his face on the other. Also available were Nazi flags, videos and CD's of German and Nazi marching songs.
I should point out that the re-enactors certainly weren't skinhead neo-nazis, and they weren't trying to push any kind of ideology. They were, by all accounts, polite and happy to talk and well informed regarding their kit and uniform. They were hardly examples of any Aryan ideal, though. Several of them were so... how shall I put this.... well padded... that I doubt they'd have fitted through the hatch of a WWII tank. They were all mostly middle aged as well and so would probably have been in one of the Volkstrum units (old men and boys). I think they are probably genuinely interested in the history of the unit (it certainly got around - fighting on every front) and are probably a bit blind to it's less palateable connotations.
South London Warlords, the organisers, have yet to issue a formal response, and debate has gotten quite heated oter at TMP, but theirchairman has given some of his personal opinions and admitted that they screwed up. He's also said that as soon as they heard about the merchandising they ordered them to stop selling it, but it was still on sale when I left at about 3pm.
G.
