If like me you watched the Panorama special on BBC One last night 'Weekend Nazis' you may be asking yourself some hard questions.
The programme was filmed at this year's War and Peace show and asked - 'why do grown men spend the weekends in out-of-date uniforms rolling around in the mud?' To be honest John Sweeney the reporter wasn't really interested in the answer to that question. He was interested in something much more specific and sensationalist. Why were there ten people dressed as Germans to every one British? Why were so many of them dressed as Waffen SS? And did their uniforms reflect their views?
Harry Pearson, author and wargamer offered, albeit briefly a theory as to the appeal of re-enactment as a whole for British people at least. He explained that maybe British men of a certain age see two versions of World War II, the actual one fought and the one fought in their homes and gardens of the sixties and seventies as they played out their childhoods. From my experience at other re-enactment shows including Salute the vast majority of people practice their hobby with an enthusiasm for history and maybe that sense of nostalgia for some form of ‘dressing up’, without any undertones and somebody needs to play the bad guys right?
But the answer Sweeney offered wasn't pleasant. During the course of his investigation he uncovered a series of individuals, many through hidden filming, who not only espoused seriously fascistic views but links to far-right groups like Combat 18 and Blood and Honour. Dressing as Waffen SS was only the tip of the iceberg for them. He also found some morally repugnant Nazi pamphlets and paraphernalia along with David Irving the Holocaust apologist that just gave the show, reenactment and the study of military history an undeserved bad name.
We work hard at Osprey to report the facts of history as they happened, however unpleasant, without passing judgement as that is not our role. But working for a publisher that does a roaring trade in books on the German Army and with a reasonable sense of responsibility I believe and hope that Harry's version is closer to the truth than John's because if not my passion and profession would make me feel very uncomfortable indeed.