Re-Enacting - Anyone here do it?

[Unsub]

I think it would be kind of fun to reenact as an SS officer as they had some nice kit ,there is good repros of everything and who doesn't love to play the bad guy.
I could see it attracting some real nutjobs though.

 

[K98ACTION]

Think you need to study history

If you are reenacting, you need someone to shoot at, so german reenactors are needed . Same as doing Napoleonic wars, you need some french, or American Civil war, you need confederates.

HOWEVER I would draw the line at SS.

Sorry, but why draw the line at the SS? Maybe we are talking about the Waffen SS. They were just professional volunteer combat soldiers. No different than say the US Green Berets. They fought hard and quick and I for one cannot fault a combat soldier for what he has to do in war. So why should you? WAR CRIMES were committed by all sides just remember that.

 

[dinsdale]

Sorry, but why draw the line at the SS? Maybe we are talking about the Waffen SS. They were just professional volunteer combat soldiers. No different than say the US Green Berets. They fought hard and quick and I for one cannot fault a combat soldier for what he has to do in war. So why should you? WAR CRIMES were committed by all sides just remember that.

That's fine and all, but I draw the line at playing the soldiers who killed a family member during Operation Totalize.

Edit: I have nothing against any who do play these roles. It is merely where I draw the line.

 

[John Sukey]

I don't recall that we committed anything like Malmedy or that we stuffed people into barns in Russia,and then set the barn on fire, murdered the population of a french town, shot prisoners when the other side was close to liberating them, or that we hanged civillians because we thought they might be shooting at us or were the wrong religion. ALL OF WHICH the Waffen SS did and is well documented.
The waffen SS BELIEVED that anyone who was not an Aryan was an "untermensch" that had to be purged so the master race would have Lebensraum.
IN NO WAY can you compare the Waffen SS to the Green Berets.

The Green Berets or any other of our special forces requirements are that you be able to pass the physical and mental training, NOT that you can PROVE Aryan ancestry back to the middle ages with NO taint of jewish blood.

 

[Steiner]

The Green Berets or any other of our special forces requirements are that you be able to pass the physical and mental training, NOT that you can PROVE Aryan ancestry back to the middle ages with NO taint of jewish blood.

This is a big can of worms....

There were alot of non-Aryans in the WSS also. Alot of the WSS were first rate officers and soldiers - many written accounts of their professional conduct on the Western Front. Lots of atrocieties also, I will not dispute that. There were alot of 'less documented' bad things the other/winning side did also - but as they say, the victor and can re-write history. The Soviet army is also documented for alot of atrocieties in Eastern Europe against their own people and the enemy (before, during, and after the Great Patriotic War).

The fact is, men are able to do terrible things to their fellow man, regardless on whose side they stand. It seems that the pressure to do these things usually comes from 'higher up', and the more dysfunctional/extreme the leader or regime is, the more chance of atrocieties against any human, friend or foe......and it continues to this day. I say that with sadness. War is bad enough. We all wish some semblence of civility can be broght to war ..... professional conduct, respect for your foe in battle and surrender, and not involving collateral populations (civilians).

I respect all professional soldiers, regardless of unit or nationality...and you are right, there are some real fruitloops out there that are attracted to the renacting hobby for the wrong reasons.

I think a large part of renactors want to represent the professional soldier from a particular period or conflict.

Thanks for listening.

 

[The Queens Medalist 8687]

According to the author, Ordanance To The Front, he figured US soldiers carried out more war attrocities than any German or Japanese soldiers, he is a US Sergeant. Also author of Patton's Best, a Jewish American Sergeant and OSS (CIA) member,the US soldiers carried out more killing of prisoners than the German soldiers did. My grandfather a Canadian soldier, witnessed Canadian soldiers rape and murder two French women in 1944,personal executions by Canadians plus a lot more. No doubt all sides committed war crimes, but the political murder by German and Russian political and rear echelon staff were the worst.
So all frontline soldiers can be reenacted by those interested in history.