chinczyk: well,i just feel it is kinda harsh to see someone in enemy's uniforms,so i reasoned that way.
I do see your point,I was kind of surprised when I first came across Polish people reenacting Germans and even Russians,given the history between these nations and the amount the Poles suffered under both regimes,but,it is after all history now.We are all Europeans/Humans so its rare for politics to enter into it.
I wont drone on but I speak from the experiance of having been a reenactor(portraying at different times British(my nationality) US,Polish,Russian and I even for one event bulked out the numbers in a German group for a display) I can confidently say that 99% of people do it not for political reasons but more due to an interest in history and to keep the memory of the veterens alive through educational work.
The BBC tried to expose some "secret Nazis" within British reenactment groups who portray Germans,in the end they found a few Dutch thugs who happened to be in the same beer tent and a couple of drunk idiots who made off colour remarks about imigrents that although unpleasant were no worse than can be heard in any pub or bar in any country in europe.
and again,sorry for lenght of this post,but,I meant to add this last night but got distracted by the need for sleep :)
I think it sums up my supposition about the british attitude to germany(beyond the immature "hun bashing," 2 world wars and one world cup chanting nonsense).
I sort of get the feeling that any atempts at Polish German(DDR) reconciliation were tainted by being under an umbrela of imposed "Fraternal Brotherhood". I may be wrong,Id be interested to hear what the case was though.
While here in britain,my generation Im speaking for were brought up on things like the Paul Mcartney song,and films where "Good Germans" were pretty common place,even the "heros" of the film.
Unlike your side of the iron curtain this didnt seem like any political imposition or manipulation,trying to show "our" germany(FDR) but in a way what we sort of guessed from direct links with veterns who always made the destinction between nazis and germans.
"Our" Germans,were also,frankly,our first line of defense against the Soviet steam roller too,its amazing how many transgresions can be conveniently overlooked when you need all the freinds you can get isnt it?
Theres also the fact that britain,untill the 1980s had a huge army presence in West Germany,entire generations of british families grew up in germany in the 50s to 90s and that seeps through to the general population,suddenly germans arnt "beastly huns" anymore but seen for what they are,the usual mix of good, bad and ugly and certainly our generation has nothing to do and no guilt for the deeds or missdeeds of our Grandparents generation.
I know one thing,its got nothing to do with anything silly like "shared Nordic ancestry" or some "ingrained "love of empire building.
One thing that a lot of people find strange is a real fascination for all things nazi and hitler in the UK. I cant 100% explain this as an innocent curriosity in the dark and macabre,like some people devour every new book about Jack the Ripper or serial killers.Most of the time it is,but,we do,to our shame,like every nation in europe have within our borders certain brain dead cretins who forget our country lost 400.00 people thanks to the flag they seem drawn to. But theres also the curiosity with "the other", just like during the cold war there was a lot of interest in all things "Russian" here,the Red Army Orchestra seems the most popular ever LP if you look in second hand record shops :), from an attempt to figure out how "they" thought,and what the motivation was the same was true for nazi germany.
I mentioned earlier that Ive drunk a pint with an old wSS veteren,he's not the only german veteren Ive met who made their home in the UK after the war(he was ,by his unit not his actions the most "extreme" example),lots of germans did,and to my generation at least these old boys were just as "exotic" as the old Polish veterens or our Grandfathers occasional wartime tales. They tended to be the Grandad of a mate or someone who drank in the local pub(often alongside polish and british veterens,I'll always remember the 3 old lads arguing about Arnhem(the german hadnt been there,he was in the navy I think) but even after getting really worked up they all bought each other drinks and went on to cracking really rude jokes :) I dont imagine much of this went on in Poland so maybe it just seeps in that the majority of Germans are just as human as we are and dont really harbour any serious dreams of global domination. What will be nice though is when German students learn that they dont all have to cross the channel to the UK wearing "nicht gegen recht" (sp) with crossed out swastica symbols on T shirts to show they are not nazis:),Besides,to most brits the writing may as well be swahili and it just looks like a lot of German kids wearing swastika T shirts....:)
|
top of page