An open letter to all re-enactors of Waffen SS units

the worst ss were the oscar dirlenwager division
appart from einhatzgruppen

 

And where is that? Certainly not in the US.This is from Reenator.net and it lists there 36 US Army units and 12 Airborne units and does not include the US Marine Corps,Army Air Corps or WWII Women's impressions.

Listing of Allied WWII Units

 

JCF, if it's anything like over here the Airborne units will be bigger and at least appear to make up the majority of the scene. In my experience units like 101st Airborne, Paras and LSSAH tend to attract a lot of members because they not only get the hardened historical types but the guys who know a little bit and want to join a unit they have heard of. Once you start forming regular army units there are all kinds of disagreements about who you are going to be and suddenly what started off as 100 guys who could form one really big unit you have 20 groups each of 5 men because no one could agree.

Re-enactors are an odd bunch, myself included.

 

"Whitewashed it's real use."

Actually, Zyklon B was originally intended as a chemical disinfectant. Its more lethal use did not come until later.

Which is worse, that people sell it, or that they buy it?

 

Well I can tell you that here in Oregon the Airborne troopers are certainly in the minority at reenactments and public displays and functions.

 

"No argument there. But was the actual container represented used in that manner to kill human beings?"

I don't know about the container, but the use of Zyklon B speaks to the demonic ingenuity that human beings are capable of.

 

Interesting! Could you post a link to where you got the info? I would be much interested in reading it.

 

That's true around here as well, in fact most of the groups represent the Glider units.

 

It's actually true, quite a few of the accounts of the battle for Normandy describe allied soldiers shooting prisoners. This was generally however after the massacre of Canadian prisoners.

 

I've got a couple of sources.

1. The biography of Panzer Meyer: Grenadiers: The Story of Waffen SS General Kurt "Panzer" Meyer. Many readers argue with what he writes but cannot argue with the next source

2. THE ABBAYE ARDENNE CASE - TRIAL OF S.S. BRIGADEFUHRER KURT MEYER, Law-Reports of Trials of War Criminals, The United Nations War Crimes Commission, Volume IV, London, HMSO, 1948

3. My grandfather who was a member of the 12 SS during the fighting around Caen up to the Falaise-Argentan debacle.

Like Stefan said, more than likely reprisals but nevertheless, the Canadian soldiers did perform some their own atrocities. Their hands are not so clean. Even so, when the victors are judge and jury, can you really expect equal justice?

BTW: I do try to post facts that can be verified with sources. Plus the odd opinion I try to slip past Za and Stefan.

 

Thanks for that, and as it seems for you as well; I hate seeing history written mainly by the victors. It sickens the memory of the dead. Another thing: I would love to read battle stories, or even memoirs of German veterans. But sadly I have yet to find any.

 

There are a fair few out there, Forgotten Soldier, Through Hell for Hitler, Storm of Steel (about WW1) and so on. Forgotten Voices of the Second World War has a few as well.

 

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 By Siegfried Knappe, Ted Brusaw, Charles T. Brusaw

I highly recommend this one.

 

By the way Jgr, you can never sneak an opinion through on here and you know it

 

Yup, I do. But, better to get busted by you than by .

Cheers mate.

 

Haha, Stefan, I wouldn't even try!...

I'm sorry if the Ziklon bit looked like I was implying proper reenactors were buying it, I fully believe proper reenactors will actively shun this item. Nevertheless I am aware of people who would gladly buy it as their form of a sick joke.

All you have to do is close the hatch on your StuG and forge ahead

 

funny reading this thread since it's inception and I asked a couple of German vet friends what would the interest be in re-enactors or re-enaction to display any unit of Ww 2 at present especially W-SS, Heer, LW and KM. they had no clue and in fact were a bit upset that anyone would even think of protraying "them" during the present age with no significance whatsoever. The war is over, why bring up old terrible wounds ?

 

Good point! Good point Indeed.

 

PzJgr, what a difference one or two generations make - as we discuss family on two sides of the War. My Dad and some of his mates would have been fighting your grandfather. As I mentioned earlier in this thread the 12th SS and Meyer were amongst the Germans for whom he could not find tolerance or forgiveness. The hatred of Meyer is one of the few instances of his ever teaching one of his children to feel that way - of course I was brought up to despise everything the Nazis and Hitler stood for and did - but when I could not have named any other German officer, I always knew the name of Kurt Meyer.

Re the sources, there are pluses and minuse in anectodal sources. Sometimes they give us the true feeling of being there and they are eye witness accounts. What I find difficult is when it is a case of someone recounting what someone else told them. In World War I and through the 1990s there was a firm belief in the story of a Canadian soldier being crucified by the Germans on the side of a Barn. When a well made piece of art was displayed in the 1990s which recreated this scenario,
research through all sources apparently failed to find fact only recounts of one soldier telling another.

But again, we have strayed from Mr. Goldstein's original purpose in starting the thread. What we have still not seen is anyone who actually does re-enact as a member of the SS explaining to Mr. Goldstein why he would choose to do so.