Tanks in Town - Mons, Belgium - 27th august 2006

European discussion. Post events here too.
Wilhelm
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Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:14 pm

Post by Wilhelm »

I read that particular forum Bill
Well now they know I reenact Waffen-SS in the UK,
I wonder how long I will remain on that forum! :lol:

Anyway, I wrote to all the "main players" in the German scene
upon my return from England and explained that I had joined
WARS and would be doing Das Reich in the UK.

The general feedback has been from the two people who bothered to answer was
"we have no problem with it".
Others in Germany (including two who post regular on this forum)
have not bothered to answer and probably will not do so.

Cheers, Bill.
Shergar
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Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2006 12:25 pm

hi bill

Post by Shergar »

hi bill and family

good on you but you dont owe any one an explanation for wat you do if germans or any one else has a problem its solely their problem , you are a good example to people about what its like to be good natured tolerant and giving , if others carry a burden of guilt about past history they have no right to judge what you do .

ps if i need my clothes tailored can i send them over to you lol
geoffpara

Post by geoffpara »

Bill, I agree with Shergar although I'm not unaware of the difficulties of living in close contact with people who have strongly differing views and are vociferous in stating them.

I'd heard a lot of good things about you from people that have known you from the past, I'm personally aware of how good you are in your role as a moderator, and having had a chat albeit a brief one with you on the Monday at Detling I think you have high personal standards, are fair minded and certainly someone who's views are worth listening to. Your response to Markus was well balanced and if our reenactor colleagues in Germany appreciate your efforts to Living History as much as we do it might make some of the 'quiet' majority think differently and not be swayed by others with perhaps their own agenda.

Geoff
Wilhelm
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Post by Wilhelm »

oli4vercammen


Will you be at Leopoldsburg in Belgium this weekend?

I will be there with my unit, British Light Infantry.
(I reenact Waffen-SS in the UK).

If you wish to meet up with me, I could be a representative of the UK scene,
I am sure no one would have a problem with that?

I understand the UK scene, but live in Germany.

Cheers, Bill.
Wilhelm
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:14 pm

Post by Wilhelm »

OK, I will see you in a few days in Belgium :D

PM to follow in the morning,

Cheers, Bill.
Hoffman Grink

Post by Hoffman Grink »

Oliver
Don't misunderstand me - I didn't take it personally. Bill will explain. He is a good guy and as he says can tell you what we are all about over here. In fact he is a founder of what we have in WWII Re-enactment.

I will be at the next Tanks in Town but we may meet before then as I may be at the Ardennes event later this year. I intend to visit Europe much more as I think it is worth exploring as a source of events.

MAYBE and I say maybe - we Brits can add something to the flavour of the Mainland events. I mean the amount of riders on the tanks at Mons? What is all that about? I thought Klingons only appeared in Star Trek? :lol:
Hoover
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Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 12:25 pm

Post by Hoover »

Hi Bill & all!

The problems in Germany are completely different to the situations in the other European countries. The Waffen-SS is a forbidden organisation in Germany and in the eyes of our Staatsschutz (don´t know the English counterpart) the potraying of it is it, too.

There are a lot of different opinions about potraying the Waffen-SS. Some have no problems with it at all, for some it is a "no go", for others (like me) it is okay, if this impression is authentic and serieously. And on some visits in Beltring I saw a lot of good SS-impressions but also a lot of very bad ones. But this is the same in Germany and all other countries that we can discover bad impressions. No doubt about that.

I have never read, that "all SS-reenactors" are Nazis and I am sure that nobody will claim that. But of course on nearly all European boards the SS-impressions will looked at very carefully.

Bye
Frank

P.S.: I wore SS-camo in the past, too :wink:
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Wilhelm
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Post by Wilhelm »

oli4vercammen writes:
we have to be shure who we are dealing with as we don't want to have a group of guys who come to our country to rease their right arm and behave like some uniformed neo-nazi group.
I suggest you stop worrying about British visitors and start looking at your own country :wink:

Last night at least 17 members of the Belgium military were arrested after a two year investigation.
They were Neo-nazis and had weapons and bomb making equipment including a bomb that was "ready to go". The police launched the raid last night as right wing terrorist attacks on the Belgium government were about to go ahead! :shock:

Cheers, Bill.
Franz repper
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Post by Franz repper »

We would welcome some UK re enactors to are event here in Finland this year was the first time we held such a thing a part from one thing all whent well. And here in Finland we dont have any problems with SS uniform ask the guys who whent to Ikea to the restaurant in full uniform :shock: any one would be most welcome but any one raising there right arm will have them removed :D
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Maus Commander
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Post by Maus Commander »

Its also not really a case of "Nazism" in Waffen-SS reenactment.

I think it may come into some of the ideas over sensitivity of "Politically correct folks" who are worried that those who portray Waffen-SS.

This isn't, however, helped by some folks who make "off-hand" comments during events. I honestly dont care if such comments are made when back at camp and the public are gone.

But I recall one instance and person at the Severn Valley Show who was very much.
"Oh I do this because you know I dont like any of them lot who come over here and call benifits and whatnot, you know what I mean, eh? We'll get them eventually and send them back."

Now, if it was a FARB I would probably have simply socked him one with a rifle butt and damned the consequences.
Unfortunately it was a Waffen-SS reenactor from one of the groups there at the SVR show earlier in the year.

I wont say from which group as the other members of the SS groups there were truly fantastic people but we genuinely cannot risk that kind of crap being said anywhere public, especially somewhere as enclosed as a railway station where prying ears catch conversations easily. Still, its merely cases of racism as opposed to any kind of Nazism I think we should try to watch out for now. We all have our baises obviously and so long as such comments are made when the public is gone then I dont care, but some folks should buck their ideas and mouths when out in public, regardless of the impression your portray, some kinds of groups genuinely cannot afford it.


Also: Nice pictures, looks like a good show, look forward to more.
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2ad82recon
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Tanks In Town

Post by 2ad82recon »

Hi Paul..we attended Tanks In Town this year with some of our armour and had a ball.

To be honest the vehicle parade was a bit "MVT" and the battle was a bit of a donkey derby BUT from small acorns grow mighty oaks as you know mate.

To see Axis re enactors on the field was a step in the right direction for sure and only good things can come from it.

Pierre Odin one of our Belgian members is a cog in the wheel of the organisastion for T in T so if you need an "in" let me know.

Also see you in Bastogne in december.... :wink: hopefully

All the best mate

Lloyd
Dont Draw Fire......It tends to irritate the people around you
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