Weekend 'Nazis'

Monday 27 August
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC1

Re-enacting battles from the Second World War is a popular summer pastime in the UK, and it's the Germans that most people want to portray, with the 'SS' who are the most popular of all. John Sweeney tours the biggest event of its type in Kent and discovers a darker side to the fun, with a convicted holocaust denier signing books, a trader selling a relic from Belsen and some Nazi enthusiasts expressing extreme racist views.


This was filmed at Beltring this year, going to be interesting to see how re-enactors are portrayed though I doubt it will be positive. That said, whatever idiot let Irving hold a stall at the show should be strung up.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Oh, dear...I can feel one of these 'Tonight for the first time we reveal...' things looming......

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

It'll blow over whatever it says, but I'm awaiting some footage of idiots who paid to get in wearing crummy bundy kit shouting at the cameras, being cited as representative of the re-enactment community.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Oh yes, here we go - I've just found a preview of 'Weekend Nazis'. I have to say that it seems odd for BBC1 ( the UKs prime 'prime time' station ) to be showing this at 8:30 on Bank Holiday Monday....

'John Sweeney discovers Holocaust-denier David Irving signing books and Nazi enthusiasts expressing extreme racial views. He asks why Britain should now be home to activities banned in Germany'

Well, air displays are also banned in Germany and you can't drive a truck there on Sundays, but we'll let that pass....and if you put a microphone in front of people walking the streets, you'd find a mixture of racist views of various kinds....

Heigh ho - but it sounds as though a rather unfair swipe is going to be taken at the re-enactors.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

I've been told that the man selling relics from Belsen works for london police force to & he did a runner

Well, some of them certainly are 'weekend nazis' if not full week, and Irving certainly was there...

Of course when reenacting one can't only play at Desert Rats, 101st Airborne, Tirailleurs Sénégalais (any blacks?), a Krasnoarmeyets or whatever, it would sound strange if there weren't any Landser. I'm certain most reenactors will take their hobby seriously, but I so doubt the motivations of some

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Precisely - some - I shall wait with interest to see how even-handed the programme is, considering the many hundreds of re-enactors who attended the event.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Agreed totally, re-enacting rather oddly offers a direct cross section of society which will of course include racists, idiots, biggots, criminals and so on, as well as all the more pleasant characters.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Does anyone ever show up decked out as a typist in an odd little bureau in the backwaters of the war or is everyone gun-toters?

Now that would be dedication to the idea.

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Best Regards,
JW

Of course, a friend of mine often comes as a Belorussian refugee, there are signallers and so on of course, civvies, the whole bit.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

That's what makes it worth it

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Weekend Nazis have ways to make you shiver - Times Online


..not sure if this is the programme commentary ..but reads in places as if it might be.....seems slightly tongue in cheek to me ...

Sweeney: “But the SS did commit massacres. If you’re going to do this you should do it accurately.”

"..Finally I caught up with the Sturmscharfuhrer - which is something like Brown Owl, only more so .."


As someone else put it you can hardly re-enact World War Two without the Germans - however much you may want to ......

Its going to make us all look like loonies.

problem is they tar everyone whether Allied or Axis with the same brush!!!

Some Waffen SS are ok its the Tottenkopf i don`t like.

Matt

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It gets better...The Guardian TV preview says : 'Reporter John Sweeney visits the biggest pro-Nazi event of its kind...'

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Either someone is lying or there has been some very bad handling of interviewers. That said, part of the reason I left SS re-enacting was because of the attitudes of a lot of people so we shall see.

Found this in the torygraph:

'Neo-Nazis infiltrate WWII re-enactment group' - Telegraph

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Hi All,
Well thats over and done with, usual crap reporter fishing desperately for a story.

looked a good event, shame i missed it- shock horror drunk German reenactors talk rubbish in beer tent, big suprise!!!!

SBG come off as bad guys, but i think they enjoy that anyway, been executed after the battles by them tooo many times.

Onwards and upwards!!!

Matt
PER ARDUA!!!

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Agreed Matt, you've seen my POV on t'other forum, the show was pretty daft. BTW, I've added you on msn if that's ok.

Take care,
Stefan

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Basically, the whole thing was a storm in a teacup.

The reporter focused on about four admittedly dubious trade stands - out of nearly 1,000 at Beltring.

Interviewing David Irving was a classic BBC error : his eyes lit up at the sight of a video camera and he came across as articulate, reasonable, and was careful to say nothing controversial. If the media simply ignored him, he would rapidly fade from the public consciousness so basically, this evening he enjoyed free publicity courtesy of the BBC

And as for the re-enactors - oh, dear....

I'm sure there must be many intelligent members of the 'Second Battle Group' but the ones 'interviewed' were embarrassingly inarticulate. Surely, if you are going to re-enact as Waffen-SS you need a good argument ready for when you are inevitably challenged ? Anyway, these guys came across as rednecks in SS-drag and IMPO they asked for what they got.....

But taking a hidden camera into a beer-tent and taping a few loud-mouthed drunks ? .....yes, they were undeniably racist but I'm sorry to say that I hear a lot worse on construction sites any day of the week.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Hi Stefan,
no problem, are we evacuees??

If you hang around by Guys selling german memorabilia , your bound to see swastikas and paraphenalia!!!:roll eyes:

Other forum is overloaded, but hey what can i do!!!

Matt

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