Re-enactors dressing their children as Hitler Youth/BDM etc

[Ludwig Wittgenstein]

Hi all

I am interested as to what your opinions are on this phenomenon. I have seen quite a few pictures of young children at re-enacting events both here in the U.K. and abroad, who are dressed as Hitler Youth. Considering that these children (some certainly less than 10 years old) have been dressed as such by their parents or at least encouraged to do so, I am quite unsure on whether this is a wholly fair practice.

One consideration is that given the obvious politically sensitive nature of this organisation (Hitler Youth), is it really fair to be dressing children this way especially given that they cannot be said to be fully conscious of what the wider historical and political context of that organisation is?

Given that even adults re-enacting Third Reich military is a controversial issue that is inevitably wrapped up in swathes of disclaimers about absence of political affiliations, should children really be encouraged to dress as Hitler Youth given that we can't say with certainty that they are aware of the implications, or able to express such a thing as a political 'disclaimer'? I don't think it is fair to expect them to.

I am interested in your opinions and am open minded to other views; I hope this can be discussed sensibly


Regards

[cpittman]

I agree with you, certainly. I think it's in extremely poor taste. I think it's a shame that a person would use their child as a reenactment prop. Certainly the child cannot understand the potential ramifications of going out in public and being photographed wearing a swastika armband. Later in life, as the child (hopefully) learns about the horrors of WWII in a way that is perhaps more honest that the sanitized caricature presented at most reenactments, how will he/she feel about having been compelled to wear a Nazi-era uniform for family fun?

[Anon mouse]

Saw a youngster just this weekend in a Hitler Youth, what I call what ALL these dress-up types attire REGARDLESS of whom they are portraying, costume. He was playing cheerfully with some youngsters of a similar age costumed as 101 Abn, so I would guess he was not suffering any mental harm from wearing a costume for a day or two at an air field.

[4thskorpion]

I am reminded of the Jesuit motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man".

[Ludwig Wittgenstein]

thanks for your replies.

I am not suggesting that a child dressed in such a costume for a weekend would necessarily suffer immediate mental harm. Sure they will be running around having fun. But I think that it's not fair for parents to be giving them these costumes to wear, because without a solid understanding of the historical context, the children are being used as pawns for the parents' own interests, or worse, for their political beliefs. As I said, the kids won't be able to grasp the subtleties of providing a political 'disclaimer' as do adults reenacting SS and so on. How confusing would it be for a child under 10 to be told, "okay wear this costume for our festival, but remember, the children who wore these things 75 years ago were actually doing so under a militaristic totalitarian regime, and some though not all of them went on to commit heinous crimes, etc etc". That is a complex and confusing situation to put to a child who more than likely has simple ideas of 'good' and 'bad'. Even adults have difficulty with such moral grey areas. [field grey, hehe?]

Saying all this, for me the whole issue is muddied when I think about the concept of reenacting other periods of history in comparison. I mean, here in the U.K. lots of children dress up as Roman Soldiers and there is never any debate about that, but I suppose the Roman Army were responsible for brutal genocide amongst our once native British peoples.. but since it was so long ago, Roman reenactment by adults and children alike is not contested on moral grounds (as far as I know.) It's just considered learning about history, and on the surface it doesn't bother me, I used to do it. But drawing comparison with 3rd Reich reenactment, it does beg the question of "how long ago is long ago enough". I suppose dressing kids in 3rd Reich costumes is a sensitive issue because the era is within living history and so is the associated genocide.. that's what it comes down to. Odd perhaps, but there is some logic to that.

[Ludwig Wittgenstein]

By the way, I am not suggesting that no child has the capacity to make any judgements on the nuances of 'playing' 3rd Reich characters. The point is more to do with particularly young children being encouraged to dress as members of a political movement they don't full comprehend, on the encouragement and behest of their parent/s.

Actually when I was about 11 I went through a period of 'playing' 3rd Reich characters after I had got bored of doing British Airborne. But that was from my own volition, not parents' encouragement. Funnily enough I chose to play at being Panzer Lehr in Normandy, my reasoning being that I thought at least they were an 'elite' unit that were not SS or implicated in any major war crimes! So I suppose that shows that some kids do 'moralise' about such things. Even back when I was 11 I would definitely have thought playing Hitler Youth bad taste though,.. I think I would have considered it wrong to play at being a solely political character. Yes I know the reasoning isn't fool proof as many Panzer Lehr soldiers would have been political, many of them once been HJ, and possibly implicated in Geneva Convention breaches etc..! -- The point is that ok, some kids do make moral judgements about such things. - But my original point still stands - that a parent actively encouraging their under 10s to dress up as Hitler Youth is on shaky ground.

[Patches]

I wonder about the parents that allow or encourage this sort of thing. Their kids could just as easily be dressed up in period looking civilian clothing in order to "fit in" to a camp scene or whatever. Odd to say the least.