I can kinda, almost understand the appeal of dressing up like a Nazi and doing World World Two reenactments. When I was a teenager, I played a lot of Avalon Hill board games (mainly Squad Leader) and I always played as the Germans. There are a bunch of reasons for this. I thought it was more fun to try to change history rather than just confirm it. The Germans always had superior equipment. They were the underdogs. And I have some German ancestry. Plus, the Holocaust was definitely not a part of those games, so I didn’t have to commit any atrocities. And, finally, all the best scenarios were battles between the Germans and the Soviets, so, really, what was the difference?
I must have fought the Battle of Stalingrad more than a dozen times, and I usually figured out a way to make the Germans win.
Having said that, I was a teenager. I had no sympathy for the German side. And I didn’t join of group of Nazi sympathizers and dress up in Waffen SS uniforms.
When I was barely eight years old, I saw the reenactment of the Battle of Princeton on its 200th anniversary, and I thought it was totally cool. I’ve watched Civil War reenactments on television. I understand the appeal of the whole reenactment thing. But I still think it’s incredibly suspect to dress up as a SS officer and characterize the German army and their allies as “thousands upon thousands of valiant men [who] died defending their respective countries in the name of a better tomorrow.”
I’m sorry, but there was no better tomorrow on the horizon.