Holy shit, can you stop calling everything "nazi"? The regular Wehrmacht (including Heer, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe, and I saw plenty of Luftwaffe) were not supposed to have political affiliations. They had to wear the swastika on insignia because they were ordered to. It was also a national symbol. The eagle clutching a swastika was the national emblem. Modern soldiers wear their national emblems in the same way.
He clearly stated that there seemed to be way more SS than Wehrmacht, so calling them Nazi soldiers in not wrong, when most of them are playing actual Nazi soldiers.
I find it odd that the guys who do Wehrmacht are picked on, I do Soviets and the public generally forget how we were serial rapists and incredibly grim in general, Ivan gets away with it again!
+Ben Walker And not just rapists of women - captured German soldiers could expect some substantial buggery action in captivity! Still, the Soviets were the "good guys" so no-one talks about that...
@@jean6872 What does that have to do with the Soviets also being vicious war-criminals? It's a documented fact that there were widespread mass rapes in Germany under the Soviets, among other crimes against humanity. Just because they defeated the Nazis (for which they should be commended) is not in any way an excuse for behaving like... well, like Nazis.
@@liverworm9917 If you examine the documents you will find that accounts of rape include Anglo-Americans, French, and Soviet troops. Large numbers of the Red Army including officers were punished by the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) for atrocities which is how we have some idea of the extent rapes. The Soviet authorities understood that they needed the goodwill of the population in order to set up socialist countries throughout Europe. The propaganda which pretends that English and American soldiers were paragons of virtue and the Soviets were like wild dogs should not be believed. Accounts vary wildly depending on the nationality of the historian. Among the Soviet forces, rape was illegal and commanders had varying degrees of success in discipling the mean at war's end.
@@jean6872 The Soviets weren't "like wild dogs"; they were angry, disgruntled soldiers who'd been at war for years and had half their country burned to the ground by the country they were now occupying. Most of them had lost friends and family to both the war and German settlement policy in the East, the latter of which was absolutely genocidal. Stalin did order his officers to crack down on the raping and looting after it became too widespread to ignore. You are correct that this was mainly an effort to improve the Soviet image in their newly conquered territories. However, this was only partially successful, and the raping and looting continued for some time in certain areas. I also never said Americans were "paragons of virtue" or whatever; we committed some pretty nasty war-crimes, too. Almost like it was the biggest conflict in human history and a lot of people did a lot of bad things. It's not propaganda to acknowledge the brutality of war, and what it can turn people into.
+pantherace1000 the whole documentary was focused on smearing reenacting as a whole...the point was to demonize it...people are ridiculous aren't they?
This historian guy says that Jewish people would be offended and I understand why but what he probably doesn't know is that the largest seller of WW2 German militaria is called Fischer and he's Jewish!
Exactly, it’s almost as stupid as people thinking that most black people find civil war re-enactments offensive. I’m sure some do but the point is that the people reenacting the south aren’t actually racist, they’re just acting and keeping history alive.
Why would anyone play the SS? Well you answered it in the opening scene. The english played french soldiers and the french played scottish soldiers. It´s all about showing some support to all the fronts i guess. Its not the same playing your own country you know, it might become too personal.
No you don't feel the pain, no you don't feel political but you don't just play with guns for yourself but it's for the PUBLIC, so the PUBLIC learn, that's why you have these events.. are you sure she is a historian?
Being a reenactor is something I belief as being special, people who don't take part in it sometimes don't seem to get it. Obviously some do! Yes some people do take their political ideas to reenactment but these people are weeded out as at the end of the day most people who do reenactment what to have a bit of fun. After have a hectic week at work just coming out and portraying something that they are really interested in is the just so much fun. This man presenting this program doesn't seem to understand what it is so be a reenactor and he doesn't seem to be able to understand why some people want to have fun in this way, he is a just bias plain and simple. Yes something's in history like the SS is quite a sensitive subject to some people but I guarantee people only do it because they are interested in the history behind in. And also want to have fun. Having been doings reenactments since I was 11 and now I am coming up 18, can certainly say that hardly any people bring their political ideas to reenacting because at the end of the day most people just want to get away from the hectic real world of work and have a bit of fun! This man narrating obviously doesn't understand this!
@@erocktherockjohnson5169 No, these reenactors are not showing anyone else how soldiers lived during WWII. There is no audience to speak of. A player whose wife has some salami sandwiches ready for her husband to join her at teatime does not count. Furthermore, I never see any of these toy Nazis lining up children and their mothers and shooting them in the back of the neck to fall into a ditch. They avoid lots of reality of WWII. Get sense and grow up.
as a reenactor from the netherlands i do have to say in countries like america and england i see a lot more ss reenactors also at open events. over here they are mostly only on private events and a lot less people play the ss. its kind of a special thing to see in public. most of the time you will see wehrmacht. also there are almost as many allied soldiers as there are germans. really depends on the event but most of the time its almost evenly devided. for instance, for the upcomming event we actually almost didnt have enough germans. so that does suprise me a little about events in america and england because i do notice there are a lot more germans there always and also ss. also the display of flags with swastika's on them you don't see them here.
Holland was invaded by the Nazis and were under occupation for years. Dutch Jews were slaughtered in death camps. Collaborators were later prosecuted. Naturally, the SS are less popular there than in England.
That's because America and the UK in particular were flooded with revisionism about the SS being an "elite" force in order to bolster cooperation with Germans in the early stages of the Cold War. While some divisions/units/individuals were indeed very well-trained and equipped, and fought with great ferocity and even, sometimes, honor, the myth that they were an "elite" fighting force made up entirely of men just doing their soldierly duty is just that--a myth. Sadly, it's a myth that's permeated Western culture in some areas. Since there are lots of people who want to play at being elite special forces commandos, it's not hard to see why so many overweight basement-dwellers like to larp as SS. To be clear, though, there are people who generally want to portray a unit as it was in the war, and sometimes that unit happens to an SS one. There were quite a few of them, after all, and some are quite well-known. Once in a while, you also get a genuine neo-Nazi who wants to larp in the fantasy world he thinks Nazi Germany was, because he has some kind of emotional attachment to the idea of the SS; but these are usually kicked out pretty quickly from respectable units. As for the issue with the flags: in the UK, due to the rapidly increasing takeover by extremists in the government and social aspects, displaying a swastika for any reason can potentially get you arrested (depending on how much you've pissed off the regime beforehand). In America, it's complicated: the US allows you to display this symbol in some places, but in others, you can be arrested, fined, or otherwise legally troubled for it depending again on how the powers that be feel towards you. There's been a move to de-swastify German stuff in games and reenactments and stuff here ever since some professional complainers accused them of being pro-Nazi/racist/what have you. Nobody wants to get doxxed and have bomb threats sent to their home over history reenactments, so we're forced to go along with the extremists and revisionists on this. Now, if you're including South America, that's a different story--but...
@@liverworm9917 thank you for going out of your way for explaining it indeed so well and yeah got to agree with you. i think it is indeed just most people wanting to do ss because they think its an elite group. i myself do german wehrmacht late war, and have indeed been in a discussion with someone just because i had the swastika on my uniform. so yes a lot of people indeed quick to call someone a nazi just because you wear it. and i understand most people just want to portray it accuratly and dont have any other intend behind it. i understand that because i do the same haha just was shocked by how manny people do ss because over here its not allowed to wear in public
There has to be the germans at reenactment events..it’s living history..as someone who is jewish,I don’t find it any more offensive than what you see in any ww2 war films..same as the militaria,there’s nothing offensive about collecting ww2 stuff,i have some german bits in my own collection…but getting married in uniforms in front of guests dressed the same,came across as very bizarre and surreal
its owkay to play a medieval era, but as soon as ww2 comes to light everybody loses their mind. relax people, this is history, just as bloody as all the other wars fought. i think its a wonderful way to learn about the things that happend.
There has been a HUGE controversy over this ever since reenacting WW2 became a thing. I must say, not everybody can be Americans, someone's gonna have to play the bad guy at some point in time. It's like playing cops and robbers with your friends. You always wanna be a cop, right? but sometimes, you just gotta be a robber.
They didn't themselves any favours though by running away from the camera. If you've got nothing to hide, and no "politics" to be ashamed of, they should have showed that slimy BBC journo up and talked to him!
Some just don’t wanna be on camera because if there employer where to see them on TV there job could be jeopardized if there employer don’t agree with there Reenacting.
The issue is that the slimy BBC journo is going to portray them in the most negative light possible regardless of what they said to him, because that's what most of them tend to do. They seem less interested in finding out why these people do what they do than in finding evidence to support the explanation he's already come to for why they do what they do. Also, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" kind of sounds familiar...
Thankyou John Sweeney for introducing me to David Irving, if it hadn't been for this show and your attempts to show him in a negative light I would never have learnt about how one could be jailed for asking questions about the holocaust and his incredible historical works.
@@jean6872 David Irving was actually a very well-respected historian at one point in his life, having written excellent biographies of various Nazi leaders which are still used as secondary sources by legitimate figures today. His bizarre turn down the rabbit hole of Holocaust denial is one of the great mysteries of the 20th century. Of course, merely questioning the reality of the Holocaust isn't in itself wrong: everything should be questioned, especially when it's of great importance in history. The best way to defeat a historical revisionist in a debate is to already have asked yourself the questions they're using as veils for their antisemitism. The thing that Irving did wrong, really, was that even after he was confronted with overwhelming evidence that the Final Solution took place, he continued to argue against it from an emotional standpoint. This is verboten in history--you go where the facts tell you to go. And the facts support the idea that Germany in the Nazi era engaged in a deliberate and targeted campaign of genocide against Jews and other scapegoated groups. So you are quite correct: his real sin wasn't questioning the Holocaust, but rather answering his own questions with falsities.
04:40, you can't portray history with just the nice bits involved, so true, I learned alot more of ww2 and the nazis from TV documentaries, and library books and audio scripts etc. ....and from my half bloodline relatives who was born in the rise of ww2.
Well, in a re-enactment of events that involved the Nazis I don't see a reason not to have people playing the Nazis. That goes for other cases as well.
"The SS the most elite" 😂shows the most farby looking SS reenactors. They say that they are objective but I definitely question that after watching this video.
At 9:52 they were very wrong about the fact that they had MG-42s mounted on top of their tanks. They would never do that because that tank looks to be a Pzkpfw IV and they had MG-34s on them.
The MG-42 (instead of the standard MG-34) was actually documented to have been used in a special configuration in some vehicles including variants of the StuG III, mostly late in the war. However, I'm not going to even pretend to entertain defending the ignorant latte-sipping narrator in the video, who likely just calls every German machine gun an MG-42.
The point I meant to make about politics is that a bunch of nerds dressing up in the military garb of a military force demonized* via history isn't the most threatening thing facing the world at this moment (a point which I believe film makers tried almost too earnestly to get across) I find the knee-jerk reaction to German military iconography to be direly amusing. I would bet much money that the reaction to a reenactment of British and Boer troops wouldn't garner this outcry.
Not really, I never even remotely mentioned my leanings. As for the reenactors, someone has to play the bad guys. Or would you have Brits fight Brits? To make things clear, I am interested in WW2. Of all the armies involved the German army fascinates me the most. Sorry, but anyone who conquers almost all of Europe in 2 years deserves some kind of respect, even if their leadership's motives and the war crimes disgust me and even if I'm glad they lost the war. Just so you don't imply I'm a Nazi.
Thing is, the British have done things just as horrible as the Nazis have, so have the Dutch, American and French. Every nation has done horrible things in their past.
As an combat veteran. I want to express that that German school teacher has the right in my country to express her opinion and I thank her for her time. However, assuming she an authority on war is absurd. Plenty of the people I find at re-enactments ARE veterans and I have long chats with them about life and time in. People have the right to tend to a hobby. And if in 50 years from now, they want to play 11B and wear my uniform and show how my job was performed to the public, than let them do it.
Here in the US it seems that it is the opposite as there are always more American Reenactors than there are German. It’s interesting that the British don’t take more pride in reenacting their own heritage. Of course I understand that someone does have to demonstrate the German impression but 10 to 1?! Knowing that my family fought and died against the German and Japanese makes it difficult for me personally to ever want to take on these types of impressions. I certainly would never get married in those uniforms either, just odd. If I did pick up another impression that belonged to the axis side. I would have to join an eastern front German unit.
You Americans are a lot more patriotic than the British. As an Irish person who lives in England, I know this very well. A lot of my English mates don't feel anything about their country. They honestly don't care enough to have an opinion on their country, whether it be good or bad. People don't do it to be like their blood and country ancestors. But to know what it was like on all sides. After all, if there were no Germans, then who would the British have to shoot at.
Next time I see a guy re-enacting a Civil War soldier wearing a Confederate Army uniform, I'll have to assume he is pro-slavery. Same thing as what this program is saying.
Panzer Totenkopf SS Sturmbannfuhrer Hans. Sturmbannfuhrer is SS rank for Major. Oberstrumbannfuhrer Lt.Col. Standartenfuhrer Col. Oberfuhrer Senior Colonel
I think what people tend to forget and also don't understand is that the Nazis were the political group that ran Germany. Not the entire country. You would generalise the American army as "The Republicans" or the British army as "The Conservatives". I think it's ridiculous that people think that reenactors are on the German side are all national socialists. I'm personally in a reenacting group, I've got far left wing individuals in my group and right wing people in my group. German reenacting groups DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE WITH NAZI IDEOLOGY TO JOIN. We do not want a few radical individuals to tarnish our craft.
Bro I do reenacting. My character is a Waffen SS Panzer crewman. I am far from a Nazi in my real life. So we Axis reenactors are NOT nazis we are actors.
Why does the reporter not know the difference between the ss and the regular army and why does he go on about tolerance for those who think the wedding is tacky . Who is being intolerant of such people ? The sneering reporter is clearly one and he is being not just tolerated but made welcome at the wedding despite his animosity
i wanna go to one of these with 800$. walk in halfassed furzi . walk out full tilt furzi qvp oooh my great grandparents sorry but .. its the path i choosed besides . the ideals are a major nope scope
nope. and to be honest that is quite a rude question to say to a complete stranger of whom you do not even know what medical issues they have. case closed. your assuming things.
Nothing to do with actually wanting to be a National Socialist, just history buffs embracing historical warfare, and besides German uniforms in both wars looked pretty suave, but that was the Nazis idea ultimately, ‘if we create uniforms made by Hugo Boss, more people will join our cause.’ Propaganda is powerful but so is history.
I will agree though when they say even the Wehrmacht guys are outnumbered by the Waffen-SS @ 04:19 .....WAYYYY too many people do it and yet they only made up 1-2% of the entire war effort...
you can't play cowboys and indians without the indians same with ww2 you can't do ww2 without the germans its no fun and the reenactment would be boring
This report is like going to a peanut store and asking why they don't sell cashews. This hobby is based on war front aspects of WWII. Not the Political front/holocaust side of history. I love how the reporter is so narrow minded. This is a HOBBY for people to get together with like interests of history and to play soldier. Anyone who gets into reenacting for political views is in it for the wrong reason. As for the people who didn't want to interview, who likes being badgered by a reporter...
And most reenactors just want to have the respect for history they do not want to portray themselves oh I am this evil person the regular people who like history I want to know what was it like in the past like a soldier
Yes, indeed, but would you dress as a Black and Tan or Auxie and parade with other of a similar bent around a field outside Cork? And what do you think the consequences would be if you did?
This is all about cool uniforms and military hardware with a touch of boy scout, fireworks and camping. But if you don't want to be around Jews and black, this is a place to go. I see as much politics or historical value as children playing with barbie dolls. As a matter of fact, I don't see anything intellectual about the reenacting. It's all about outside and what you own - cool uniforms and military hardware. I am surprised that there was not a single Britisches Freikorps SS.
At least we agree on this one. When I was younger, I wanted to be a reenactor, but by now I've completely changed my mind. Somehow it feels uneasy when you know that real men fought a war and did and saw things there nobody should do or see. Who am I to portray it? I would feel ashamed of even trying to step in their shoes. If these guys want to do it, so be it. I just couldn't.
Les allemands ont des superbes uniformes et du beau matériel performants d'époques , bien dommage qu'il y est eu la guerre et que la politique ne soi pas plus fraternelle entre les peuples et cousins germains de l'Europe ...
Why would anyone want to portray the SS? - because no one is portraying the SS... we re portraying the WAFFEN- SS - the military soldiers not the fanatical nazis
I only know who the Imperial Storm Troopers are, but that is fantasy like dressing as an Orc I suppose. Not as sinister as portraying a Nazi, who should be kept a close eye on. As for the politics, yes, just as damaging.
My family are Czechs so i got no love for national socialists but this narrators commentary is ridiculous. They're living historians not frggn nazi party members. People been pulling the same stuff in the American Civil War reenactment community when people portray tje Confederate Army, Navy, and Marines. Not everyone can play as the so called good guys this dudes so self righteous its appalling.
and where does it end? To display even a modicum of historical accuracy you have to show the whole picture, i.e. "Total History" or else what's the point? Then we have to ask ourselves where does it all end? and will this ultimately include concentration camp guards commiting re-enacted atrocites? War should not be renacted, not in any form.
I dont claim to know everything about you, but you pointed out what your ideological leanings were by your comments in the first place. Such interests do not make every historian a Nazi, but these people are posers not historians. A true historian looks at the evidence, interprets, and then writes history not dress as S.S. Despite all their excuses, posturing and "living history" speil, it all boils down to dressing up in the uniforms of those they admire the most, else why not Tommies?
No, not the most threatening thing, but it isnt a knee-jerk reaction. Its carefully considered, and the British and Boer allusion is hardly the same thing is it? And I find those nerds who need to dress up in "german military iconography" dire, but not amusing, just sinister.
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Holy shit, can you stop calling everything "nazi"? The regular Wehrmacht (including Heer, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe, and I saw plenty of Luftwaffe) were not supposed to have political affiliations. They had to wear the swastika on insignia because they were ordered to. It was also a national symbol. The eagle clutching a swastika was the national emblem. Modern soldiers wear their national emblems in the same way.
He clearly stated that there seemed to be way more SS than Wehrmacht, so calling them Nazi soldiers in not wrong, when most of them are playing actual Nazi soldiers.
My friend is recorded on here he in very unhappy because he gets called a nazi when he was luftwaffe
@@vietnamwar2468 They were National Socialists i.e. Nazis FFS
I find it odd that the guys who do Wehrmacht are picked on, I do Soviets and the public generally forget how we were serial rapists and incredibly grim in general, Ivan gets away with it again!
+Ben Walker And not just rapists of women - captured German soldiers could expect some substantial buggery action in captivity! Still, the Soviets were the "good guys" so no-one talks about that...
You seem unaware that the Red Army beat the Nazis all the way back to Berlin. Read a book sometime.
@@jean6872 What does that have to do with the Soviets also being vicious war-criminals? It's a documented fact that there were widespread mass rapes in Germany under the Soviets, among other crimes against humanity. Just because they defeated the Nazis (for which they should be commended) is not in any way an excuse for behaving like... well, like Nazis.
@@liverworm9917 If you examine the documents you will find that accounts of rape include Anglo-Americans, French, and Soviet troops. Large numbers of the Red Army including officers were punished by the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police) for atrocities which is how we have some idea of the extent rapes. The Soviet authorities understood that they needed the goodwill of the population in order to set up socialist countries throughout Europe. The propaganda which pretends that English and American soldiers were paragons of virtue and the Soviets were like wild dogs should not be believed. Accounts vary wildly depending on the nationality of the historian. Among the Soviet forces, rape was illegal and commanders had varying degrees of success in discipling the mean at war's end.
@@jean6872 The Soviets weren't "like wild dogs"; they were angry, disgruntled soldiers who'd been at war for years and had half their country burned to the ground by the country they were now occupying. Most of them had lost friends and family to both the war and German settlement policy in the East, the latter of which was absolutely genocidal.
Stalin did order his officers to crack down on the raping and looting after it became too widespread to ignore. You are correct that this was mainly an effort to improve the Soviet image in their newly conquered territories. However, this was only partially successful, and the raping and looting continued for some time in certain areas.
I also never said Americans were "paragons of virtue" or whatever; we committed some pretty nasty war-crimes, too. Almost like it was the biggest conflict in human history and a lot of people did a lot of bad things.
It's not propaganda to acknowledge the brutality of war, and what it can turn people into.
The reason they get dressed up is it keep history alive to show other people what it was like ( right or wrong) ?
+Bruce Sharpe amen thank you mate a man talking sense
So right
How do they show 'what it was like' when there are no consequences ?
@@sm70911 well, it's as close as you can get without, you know, having any actual deaths
@@sm70911 you want actual people to die you sadist
at 8 minutes in. I feel the narrator isn't trying to give the viewer an unbiased assessment of what reenacting is.
+pantherace1000 the whole documentary was focused on smearing reenacting as a whole...the point was to demonize it...people are ridiculous aren't they?
This historian guy says that Jewish people would be offended and I understand why but what he probably doesn't know is that the largest seller of WW2 German militaria is called Fischer and he's Jewish!
Im Jewish And portraying German side 12th SS panther division
Exactly, it’s almost as stupid as people thinking that most black people find civil war re-enactments offensive. I’m sure some do but the point is that the people reenacting the south aren’t actually racist, they’re just acting and keeping history alive.
what that german man said was true you can ban
symbols but never ideals
Nazis are not allowed in Germany or Austria today and will be prosecuted if they try to take over the neighborhoods like they did in the last century.
Why would anyone play the SS? Well you answered it in the opening scene. The english played french soldiers and the french played scottish soldiers. It´s all about showing some support to all the fronts i guess. Its not the same playing your own country you know, it might become too personal.
JaHeiDu I also think its about the uniforms, after all those cmouflaged smocks are fucking badass
Stupid question
Also, if we had all GIs and Tommies, we wouldn't have a realistic reenactment.
Pussy mentality
Reporter : you don't look french
Me : yeah it's generaly like that in the foreign legion
No you don't feel the pain, no you don't feel political but you don't just play with guns for yourself but it's for the PUBLIC, so the PUBLIC learn, that's why you have these events.. are you sure she is a historian?
Get over yourself. What exactly do the public "learn"? That WW2 combat troops were fat, gormless, sad sacks?
"It seems nearly everyone wants to play the 'bad guys.'"
The English just wish they could be German.
"Have you ever met Hermann Goering?"
Legend!!!
Being a reenactor is something I belief as being special, people who don't take part in it sometimes don't seem to get it. Obviously some do! Yes some people do take their political ideas to reenactment but these people are weeded out as at the end of the day most people who do reenactment what to have a bit of fun. After have a hectic week at work just coming out and portraying something that they are really interested in is the just so much fun. This man presenting this program doesn't seem to understand what it is so be a reenactor and he doesn't seem to be able to understand why some people want to have fun in this way, he is a just bias plain and simple. Yes something's in history like the SS is quite a sensitive subject to some people but I guarantee people only do it because they are interested in the history behind in. And also want to have fun. Having been doings reenactments since I was 11 and now I am coming up 18, can certainly say that hardly any people bring their political ideas to reenacting because at the end of the day most people just want to get away from the hectic real world of work and have a bit of fun! This man narrating obviously doesn't understand this!
I understand them. I was a small boy once and I played war. But I grew up.
@@jean6872its not just "playing war" its about showing people how soldiers lived back then
@@erocktherockjohnson5169 No, these reenactors are not showing anyone else how soldiers lived during WWII. There is no audience to speak of. A player whose wife has some salami sandwiches ready for her husband to join her at teatime does not count. Furthermore, I never see any of these toy Nazis lining up children and their mothers and shooting them in the back of the neck to fall into a ditch. They avoid lots of reality of WWII. Get sense and grow up.
The only evil thing in this vid is the farb that wore his ww1 cap
as a reenactor from the netherlands i do have to say in countries like america and england i see a lot more ss reenactors also at open events. over here they are mostly only on private events and a lot less people play the ss. its kind of a special thing to see in public.
most of the time you will see wehrmacht. also there are almost as many allied soldiers as there are germans. really depends on the event but most of the time its almost evenly devided. for instance, for the upcomming event we actually almost didnt have enough germans.
so that does suprise me a little about events in america and england because i do notice there are a lot more germans there always and also ss. also the display of flags with swastika's on them you don't see them here.
Holland was invaded by the Nazis and were under occupation for years. Dutch Jews were slaughtered in death camps. Collaborators were later prosecuted. Naturally, the SS are less popular there than in England.
That's because America and the UK in particular were flooded with revisionism about the SS being an "elite" force in order to bolster cooperation with Germans in the early stages of the Cold War. While some divisions/units/individuals were indeed very well-trained and equipped, and fought with great ferocity and even, sometimes, honor, the myth that they were an "elite" fighting force made up entirely of men just doing their soldierly duty is just that--a myth. Sadly, it's a myth that's permeated Western culture in some areas. Since there are lots of people who want to play at being elite special forces commandos, it's not hard to see why so many overweight basement-dwellers like to larp as SS.
To be clear, though, there are people who generally want to portray a unit as it was in the war, and sometimes that unit happens to an SS one. There were quite a few of them, after all, and some are quite well-known. Once in a while, you also get a genuine neo-Nazi who wants to larp in the fantasy world he thinks Nazi Germany was, because he has some kind of emotional attachment to the idea of the SS; but these are usually kicked out pretty quickly from respectable units.
As for the issue with the flags: in the UK, due to the rapidly increasing takeover by extremists in the government and social aspects, displaying a swastika for any reason can potentially get you arrested (depending on how much you've pissed off the regime beforehand).
In America, it's complicated: the US allows you to display this symbol in some places, but in others, you can be arrested, fined, or otherwise legally troubled for it depending again on how the powers that be feel towards you. There's been a move to de-swastify German stuff in games and reenactments and stuff here ever since some professional complainers accused them of being pro-Nazi/racist/what have you. Nobody wants to get doxxed and have bomb threats sent to their home over history reenactments, so we're forced to go along with the extremists and revisionists on this.
Now, if you're including South America, that's a different story--but...
@@liverworm9917 thank you for going out of your way for explaining it indeed so well and yeah got to agree with you. i think it is indeed just most people wanting to do ss because they think its an elite group.
i myself do german wehrmacht late war, and have indeed been in a discussion with someone just because i had the swastika on my uniform.
so yes a lot of people indeed quick to call someone a nazi just because you wear it.
and i understand most people just want to portray it accuratly and dont have any other intend behind it. i understand that because i do the same haha
just was shocked by how manny people do ss because over here its not allowed to wear in public
Sees BBC, hears "Or is there something darker lurking in the woods?"
*Closes video*
There has to be the germans at reenactment events..it’s living history..as someone who is jewish,I don’t find it any more offensive than what you see in any ww2 war films..same as the militaria,there’s nothing offensive about collecting ww2 stuff,i have some german bits in my own collection…but getting married in uniforms in front of guests dressed the same,came across as very bizarre and surreal
It's so hard to see the politics of the BBC, they are so neural and objective. Keep up the good work.
This is sarcasm, right? It's hard to know sarcasm in text sometimes especially nowadays...
what is political about big black coc...
Yeah about that...
They sure changed a lot since then
I Agree with Doctor Karina Urbach, legalize guns so we can shoot eachother with live rounds instead of boring blanks.
its owkay to play a medieval era, but as soon as ww2 comes to light everybody loses their mind. relax people, this is history, just as bloody as all the other wars fought. i think its a wonderful way to learn about the things that happend.
Deep down inside people like the German Wehrmacht, they were some bad ass dude thats for sure.
This is like insulting actors that play as villains... They deserve more respect. Without them, the reenactment is incomplete and incorrect.
There has been a HUGE controversy over this ever since reenacting WW2 became a thing. I must say, not everybody can be Americans, someone's gonna have to play the bad guy at some point in time. It's like playing cops and robbers with your friends. You always wanna be a cop, right? but sometimes, you just gotta be a robber.
They didn't themselves any favours though by running away from the camera. If you've got nothing to hide, and no "politics" to be ashamed of, they should have showed that slimy BBC journo up and talked to him!
Some just don’t wanna be on camera because if there employer where to see them on TV there job could be jeopardized if there employer don’t agree with there Reenacting.
@@jimmybolf2001 I think this is sarcasm...
The issue is that the slimy BBC journo is going to portray them in the most negative light possible regardless of what they said to him, because that's what most of them tend to do. They seem less interested in finding out why these people do what they do than in finding evidence to support the explanation he's already come to for why they do what they do.
Also, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" kind of sounds familiar...
Oooohh...the dark side of the force :-)
So alluring....
nothing about the Vietnam reactors.
Thankyou John Sweeney for introducing me to David Irving, if it hadn't been for this show and your attempts to show him in a negative light I would never have learnt about how one could be jailed for asking questions about the holocaust and his incredible historical works.
I heard about him from this shitty program also.
David Irving is the worst and shouldn’t be considered a historian
@@TaZ101SAGA Denier of the Final Solution, David Irving, did more that ask questions. He answered them with falsehood.
@@jean6872 David Irving was actually a very well-respected historian at one point in his life, having written excellent biographies of various Nazi leaders which are still used as secondary sources by legitimate figures today. His bizarre turn down the rabbit hole of Holocaust denial is one of the great mysteries of the 20th century.
Of course, merely questioning the reality of the Holocaust isn't in itself wrong: everything should be questioned, especially when it's of great importance in history. The best way to defeat a historical revisionist in a debate is to already have asked yourself the questions they're using as veils for their antisemitism.
The thing that Irving did wrong, really, was that even after he was confronted with overwhelming evidence that the Final Solution took place, he continued to argue against it from an emotional standpoint. This is verboten in history--you go where the facts tell you to go. And the facts support the idea that Germany in the Nazi era engaged in a deliberate and targeted campaign of genocide against Jews and other scapegoated groups.
So you are quite correct: his real sin wasn't questioning the Holocaust, but rather answering his own questions with falsities.
@@jean6872useful idiot
04:40, you can't portray history with just the nice bits involved, so true,
I learned alot more of ww2 and the nazis from TV documentaries, and library books and audio scripts etc.
....and from my half bloodline relatives who was born in the rise of ww2.
You must see that for this re-enactor dressing up as a Nazi is a nice bit. He loves it but we do not see him shooting a Jew.
Well, in a re-enactment of events that involved the Nazis I don't see a reason not to have people playing the Nazis. That goes for other cases as well.
"The SS the most elite" 😂shows the most farby looking SS reenactors. They say that they are objective but I definitely question that after watching this video.
Honestly, this was 13 years ago... they didn't have easy access like reenactors and researchers have today, at least that's what I believe.
The title of this video makes me mad
ofc evrey1 want to play the germans.. lol but that wedding photo is making me lmfao
At 9:52 they were very wrong about the fact that they had MG-42s mounted on top of their tanks. They would never do that because that tank looks to be a Pzkpfw IV and they had MG-34s on them.
Its a Stug but you got the point
The MG-42 (instead of the standard MG-34) was actually documented to have been used in a special configuration in some vehicles including variants of the StuG III, mostly late in the war. However, I'm not going to even pretend to entertain defending the ignorant latte-sipping narrator in the video, who likely just calls every German machine gun an MG-42.
The only statement he got was a drunk statement.
The point I meant to make about politics is that a bunch of nerds dressing up in the military garb of a military force demonized* via history isn't the most threatening thing facing the world at this moment (a point which I believe film makers tried almost too earnestly to get across)
I find the knee-jerk reaction to German military iconography to be direly amusing. I would bet much money that the reaction to a reenactment of British and Boer troops wouldn't garner this outcry.
it is just recreating history .why drag the Jewish question into it .that aspect had nothing to do with the war or the fighting
Not really, I never even remotely mentioned my leanings. As for the reenactors, someone has to play the bad guys. Or would you have Brits fight Brits?
To make things clear, I am interested in WW2. Of all the armies involved the German army fascinates me the most. Sorry, but anyone who conquers almost all of Europe in 2 years deserves some kind of respect, even if their leadership's motives and the war crimes disgust me and even if I'm glad they lost the war. Just so you don't imply I'm a Nazi.
I need that general uniform
The filling award is Brother ship and friendship and remembering the history because people don’t want history to repeat itself
Thing is, the British have done things just as horrible as the Nazis have, so have the Dutch, American and French. Every nation has done horrible things in their past.
Next time send in Rambo 3 in that wood.
What a biased documentary
Ah yes, 12 year old reenacting. Quality reproductions everywhere.
Pretty Cool. 😎
As an combat veteran. I want to express that that German school teacher has the right in my country to express her opinion and I thank her for her time. However, assuming she an authority on war is absurd. Plenty of the people I find at re-enactments ARE veterans and I have long chats with them about life and time in. People have the right to tend to a hobby. And if in 50 years from now, they want to play 11B and wear my uniform and show how my job was performed to the public, than let them do it.
10:10 these people are just farbs really, this British para has American field glasses and a German K98
Here in the US it seems that it is the opposite as there are always more American Reenactors than there are German. It’s interesting that the British don’t take more pride in reenacting their own heritage. Of course I understand that someone does have to demonstrate the German impression but 10 to 1?! Knowing that my family fought and died against the German and Japanese makes it difficult for me personally to ever want to take on these types of impressions. I certainly would never get married in those uniforms either, just odd. If I did pick up another impression that belonged to the axis side. I would have to join an eastern front German unit.
You Americans are a lot more patriotic than the British. As an Irish person who lives in England, I know this very well. A lot of my English mates don't feel anything about their country. They honestly don't care enough to have an opinion on their country, whether it be good or bad. People don't do it to be like their blood and country ancestors. But to know what it was like on all sides. After all, if there were no Germans, then who would the British have to shoot at.
Presenter is a knob, big up the reenactors
Pvt Sponge from Dad's Army! I didn't know he was still alive.
I learned history is a messy canvas yes I do believe in the Holocaust but I also am a reenactor for the SS and I respecting uniforms
So much farb in here
Me neither, but I don't see any issues with it either.
too much fat soldiers.............thanks for sharing : )
Next time I see a guy re-enacting a Civil War soldier wearing a Confederate Army uniform, I'll have to assume he is pro-slavery. Same thing as what this program is saying.
Panzer Totenkopf SS Sturmbannfuhrer Hans. Sturmbannfuhrer is SS rank for Major. Oberstrumbannfuhrer Lt.Col. Standartenfuhrer Col. Oberfuhrer Senior Colonel
hey who gave the women the right to speak freely?!
LOL
I think what people tend to forget and also don't understand is that the Nazis were the political group that ran Germany. Not the entire country.
You would generalise the American army as "The Republicans" or the British army as "The Conservatives". I think it's ridiculous that people think that reenactors are on the German side are all national socialists.
I'm personally in a reenacting group, I've got far left wing individuals in my group and right wing people in my group. German reenacting groups DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE WITH NAZI IDEOLOGY TO JOIN. We do not want a few radical individuals to tarnish our craft.
Yeah. Re-enacting is for showing the combat and life of an ORDINARY soldier, without all the political stuff involved such as atrocities.
Bro I do reenacting. My character is a Waffen SS Panzer crewman. I am far from a Nazi in my real life. So we Axis reenactors are NOT nazis we are actors.
Why does the reporter not know the difference between the ss and the regular army and why does he go on about tolerance for those who think the wedding is tacky . Who is being intolerant of such people ? The sneering reporter is clearly one and he is being not just tolerated but made welcome at the wedding despite his animosity
i wanna go to one of these with 800$. walk in halfassed furzi . walk out full tilt furzi qvp oooh my great grandparents sorry but .. its the path i choosed besides . the ideals are a major nope scope
nope. and to be honest that is quite a rude question to say to a complete stranger of whom you do not even know what medical issues they have. case closed. your assuming things.
@@tailsdollblack9340 dude, did you just reply to yourself here?
Nothing to do with actually wanting to be a National Socialist, just history buffs embracing historical warfare, and besides German uniforms in both wars looked pretty suave, but that was the Nazis idea ultimately, ‘if we create uniforms made by Hugo Boss, more people will join our cause.’ Propaganda is powerful but so is history.
I don’t see the reason wrong with the nazi stuff because it is history
I will agree though when they say even the Wehrmacht guys are outnumbered by the Waffen-SS @ 04:19 .....WAYYYY too many people do it and yet they only made up 1-2% of the entire war effort...
Weekend Nazis ??
That wedding is damn near the stupidest thing
How is it stupid it's a free country and I think it's great that they share so much in common
This is spooky.
I’ve always be a Wehraboo, because my Great grandfather fought in the 1st SS
Wehraboos are ignorant
May he rest in peace
I like reenactment but the weddings was kind of wierd but whatever makes people happy
6:23 Kaiserhymne
I find this whole thing very sinister.
What's wrong with this its family fun I used to go to military fairs it's a free country
@@tiernanwearen8096 They mightve meant the documentary style itself...
@@anomaly9156 oh okay
@TheJaaysog I suppose it would be kind of cool to pose as the ultimate dark side just for once. Hell, the uniform is expensive though!
you can't play cowboys and indians without the indians same with ww2 you can't do ww2 without the germans its no fun and the reenactment would be boring
This report is like going to a peanut store and asking why they don't sell cashews. This hobby is based on war front aspects of WWII. Not the Political front/holocaust side of history. I love how the reporter is so narrow minded. This is a HOBBY for people to get together with like interests of history and to play soldier. Anyone who gets into reenacting for political views is in it for the wrong reason. As for the people who didn't want to interview, who likes being badgered by a reporter...
If you are going to portray an acurate soldaten shave your godamn gote!!
And most reenactors just want to have the respect for history they do not want to portray themselves oh I am this evil person the regular people who like history I want to know what was it like in the past like a soldier
Yes, indeed, but would you dress as a Black and Tan or Auxie and parade with other of a similar bent around a field outside Cork? And what do you think the consequences would be if you did?
This is all about cool uniforms and military hardware with a touch of boy scout, fireworks and camping. But if you don't want to be around Jews and black, this is a place to go. I see as much politics or historical value as children playing with barbie dolls. As a matter of fact, I don't see anything intellectual about the reenacting. It's all about outside and what you own - cool uniforms and military hardware. I am surprised that there was not a single Britisches Freikorps SS.
At least we agree on this one. When I was younger, I wanted to be a reenactor, but by now I've completely changed my mind. Somehow it feels uneasy when you know that real men fought a war and did and saw things there nobody should do or see. Who am I to portray it? I would feel ashamed of even trying to step in their shoes. If these guys want to do it, so be it. I just couldn't.
what's that kid's uniform @ 1:11 looks like oakleaf?
The quality of the video is very shit but iam guessing its oak leaf
more germans than allied reanactors? Not here in belgium. Want to trade some of our allied soldiers for your german soldiers? :D
BBC bais in action
Les allemands ont des superbes uniformes et du beau matériel performants d'époques , bien dommage qu'il y est eu la guerre et que la politique ne soi pas plus fraternelle entre les peuples et cousins germains de l'Europe ...
Pourquoi on à pas ça en France sérieux
Why would anyone want to portray the SS? - because no one is portraying the SS... we re portraying the WAFFEN- SS - the military soldiers not the fanatical nazis
12:47 World turned beautiful for me again.
Das ist echt krank.
Why are German soldiers called Nazis why
Because some people doesnt know history
Old and fat SS elite soldiers......!! ;-)
I reanact both side I prefer British side
Nattsee... smh
I only know who the Imperial Storm Troopers are, but that is fantasy like dressing as an Orc I suppose. Not as sinister as portraying a Nazi, who should be kept a close eye on. As for the politics, yes, just as damaging.
@phantom12321
Brits pretty unheard of in the UK, well the bog standard infantry is haha... sad really :/
My family are Czechs so i got no love for national socialists but this narrators commentary is ridiculous. They're living historians not frggn nazi party members. People been pulling the same stuff in the American Civil War reenactment community when people portray tje Confederate Army, Navy, and Marines. Not everyone can play as the so called good guys this dudes so self righteous its appalling.
so much weheraboo tears in these comments
thanks for proving his point :^)
and where does it end? To display even a modicum of historical accuracy you have to show the whole picture, i.e. "Total History" or else what's the point? Then we have to ask ourselves where does it all end? and will this ultimately include concentration camp guards commiting re-enacted atrocites?
War should not be renacted, not in any form.
Excellent documentary
Lol not really
I dont claim to know everything about you, but you pointed out what your ideological leanings were by your comments in the first place. Such interests do not make every historian a Nazi, but these people are posers not historians. A true historian looks at the evidence, interprets, and then writes history not dress as S.S. Despite all their excuses, posturing and "living history" speil, it all boils down to dressing up in the uniforms of those they admire the most, else why not Tommies?
No, not the most threatening thing, but it isnt a knee-jerk reaction. Its carefully considered, and the British and Boer allusion is hardly the same thing is it? And I find those nerds who need to dress up in "german military iconography" dire, but not amusing, just sinister.
Those jerks are having fun with their own money doing what they're interested in without harming anyone.
As you wish. I dont see the point in re-enacting war.