In a recent WWII Days reenactment, some participants played the Nazis — we talked to them about why they do it
Someone has to play the bad guy.
Someone has to play the Nazi.
Otherwise, how do you teach history?
I heard this a lot. Whenever I would ask anyone portraying a German soldier at Rockford, Illinois’ annual World War II Days about why they had chosen to reenact a soldier on the Axis side of the war, eventually, almost to the person, after offering many different reasons, they would adopt a sheepish grin and say:
Because someone has to.
Besides, they would usually add, they were not playing the bad Germans. They were playing schmucks, the lowest of the low, conscripted men who feared what would happen to their families if Hitler won and they had avoided service. Most said this. They were here as actors. They were playing a part.
“It’s a costume, man,” one guy in an SS uniform told me. They were also here as educators, as amateur historians. They also played Nazis because they thought the costumes were cooler, the equipment and vehicles more interesting — many compared it to being a child and how it’s always more fun to play Darth Vader than a humble Jedi.
Some mentioned they had family who fought in the German army (though many more said they had family who fought for the Allies). Some chose the German side to better understand the German side. Many said they wanted to use reenacting to ensure “nothing like this” takes place again.
Then they would add they are red-blooded Americans, with no sympathy for Nazis or fascist ideology. In fact, they didn’t want to talk politics. It gets too heated, they would say, a surreal point coming from someone in a Nazi uniform. Again, they were playing German. Ask about their “role in the war” and prepare to be there a while. They were sincere, thoughtful and knowledgeable.
But the swastikas on those costumes get distracting.
You start to notice how simultaneously deep and shallow their understanding can go.
....
on and off, as a spectator. It’s the second-largest World War II reenactment in the country. For 26 years, in early autumn, it’s attracted about 1,000 reenactors, give or take a few hundred. It runs for three days — one
