Prior to going to Beltring, I got my "rules" and they were widely
disseminated in the magazines as well. I noted - even just scanning
through - the rules about uniforms that you are not entitled to. Well,
just about the whole place was packed with people wearing uniforms that
they were not entitled to and they even manned the gate and club shop!
Where do you draw the line? Reenactors wearing completely unadorned
uniforms would look ridiculous. Some people will be offended by certain
uniforms and that is inevitable and difficult to police. The worst
behaviour at Beltring that I saw was a bunch of guys outside the beer tent
in '70's and '80's British army gear. Thugs to a man and no two ways about it.
As Nige has already and correctly pointed out, there is a cavernous
difference between a genuine reenactor and somone making a political
statement. The subjuct of Nazi germany is very awkward and emotive as some
people see the SS as a whole as the really bad guys as they were the
Political troops but is that necessarily the case? What were the "other"
German forces? Babes in arms? War is War. There was an uncannily high
instance of leg wounds in prisoners taken by certain British units in 1982.
I am not saying I know the answer either way but am just illustrating the
difficulty of coming up with a workable and coherent policy on the matter.
In any case these things are always best addressed with a nice big dose of
common dog (read: "sense") from all genuinely involved. That is usually
enough to weed out the fringe nutters of Any political pursuasion.
My two Baht
Gavin
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