06-09-2008, 07:30 PM
When I got out of the Army I used to wear my old fatigues on archaeological projects I worked on. This was in the southwest United States. This was the 1970s and there were very few vets on these projects. On several occasions I was asked why I was wearing a German nazi eagle on my shirt. It was not any such thing, it was my Air Crewman wings. I was also asked how many babies I killed to get my Combat Medical Badge. (I flew rescue missions in an unarmed red cross marked helicopter.) Some students complained that my uniform shirt was 'offensive". I blew off the complaints in a non-PC manner. One drunk from Sweden tried to pick a fight with me one time screaming some nonsense I could not understand that he claimed he had read in Pravda.
Later that summer a large number of outlaw motorcycle gang members turned up at a concert wearing swastikas, German helmets and insignia including the SS runes. The same student crowd I worked with ignored the nazi connotation and remarked how cool the bikers were, and what great drugs they had. There is a lesson in this somewhere, I am sure.
However, from the above posts this is apparent: If you are prohibited from law to wear things in your area, don't. If you can and want to, do it. If you are at an event and can explain historical context and meaning to a group that is receptive, then it is educational and worthwhile. This is, I believe one of the main purposes of reemactment. However, I do not recommend trying this with academics, in particular those who study culture or history because they are not receptive, and have, on occasion, become violent with people who do not agree with their a priori assumptions.
R. Izard
Later that summer a large number of outlaw motorcycle gang members turned up at a concert wearing swastikas, German helmets and insignia including the SS runes. The same student crowd I worked with ignored the nazi connotation and remarked how cool the bikers were, and what great drugs they had. There is a lesson in this somewhere, I am sure.
However, from the above posts this is apparent: If you are prohibited from law to wear things in your area, don't. If you can and want to, do it. If you are at an event and can explain historical context and meaning to a group that is receptive, then it is educational and worthwhile. This is, I believe one of the main purposes of reemactment. However, I do not recommend trying this with academics, in particular those who study culture or history because they are not receptive, and have, on occasion, become violent with people who do not agree with their a priori assumptions.
R. Izard
