History Cannot Justify Everything

Over the past weekend the Detroit Historical Society Women's Guild hosted their twice a year rummage sale. It is a good time to find some bargains, while getting in a bit of history. The event is held on the grounds of old Fort Wayne, which is open to the public as part of the price of admission, and it thus offers those so inclined an opportunity to see a classic example of 1840's military architecture.

Often, there are events within the Fort which reflect on our history. One year they played baseball by 1867 rules, and it is not unusual to see Civil War reenactors showing their wares. Yet this past weekend was different. There were reenactors of World War II GI Joes and their Nazi counterparts, complete with a battle reenactment on Saturday.

The first and likely best question is: who would want to play Nazis? One answer is that as we grow away from WW II we need to reestablish a connection to it and its atrocities, and that means someone has to play the Nazis. That may be true of movies and documentaries but it sounds rather hollow as a reason for regular weekend entertainment. Certainly we need to remember Nazi atrocities; yet to actively play them as a diversion from reality in the same way Civil War reenactors find respite from their daily labor seems more to glorify than condemn the Third Reich. It appears to put them on a level playing field with the Allies to take refuge in the symbols of a totalitarian state.

Image if you will similar scenes with fake Al Queda operatives sometime in the future. If that sits well with you, then I think the question is well, if poorly, answered.

Even playing a Confederate invites the same skepticism. Why would anyone want to go even near towards justifying their cause? It is like playing games without proper consideration of the real meaning behind what happened, whether the American Civil War or the Second World War is the focus or not.

We do not need to see Nazis in our historical reenactments. It can only, even if only marginally, redeem our image of them. It is something which must be discouraged from our future reflections on why we fight tyranny.