Reenactor Fest 2009

[LaurenLee]

Is anyone attending this from Feb 5-8, 2009, in Wheeling, IL?  It will be my first time, and I would love to meet up with fellow seamstresses, if you'll be there.  It's for reenactors from Roman times through the Viet Nam war.  I hear they have a pretty wild Ball on Saturday night.   

I'm trying to picture dancing with a Roman warrior while dressed like a southern General's wife... or maybe like the persona I'm trying out from the 16th century - Lady Anne Shelton, governess to Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, and aunt to poor Queen Anne.

The web address is www.reenactorfest.com

[Margrett]

I will be attending. All three of the historical guildes from Bristol will be there and I will be there with the Guilde of St. Lawrence (the middle class folks who also operate a food coop for the participants).

Margrett

[groomporter]

Oops!

I just got a call from a friend who heard they had a little mix-up at the hotel.

The new hotel they are at apparently booked a bar mitzvah party this weekend as well as Reenactorfest (and rumor is that one of the bar mitzvah guests is a holocaust survivor). So they are not too happy about being in the same hotel as an event that includes uniformed WWII German re-enactors.

Supposedly they are telling the reenactors to avoid certain areas of the hotel to help keep the two groups separate.

[Cobaltblu]

It's not such a big deal; the holocaust survivor can't expect everyone around them to cater to their personal likes and dislikes.  It is ridiculous that the hotel is telling the reenactors they can't go into certain areas since they are paying guests; there's no law against historical reeactments of WWII germany.

Prohibiting the reenactors from going in certain areas is like putting a sign outside saying "No German Guests Allowed".

Regards,

CB

[groomporter]

Oh come on, it not about being "German" -it's about seemingly representing Nazi's. What could be more offensive than showing up at your grand kid's Bar Mitzvah and running into a bunch of people dressed like the monsters who killed your friends and family? If you lived through it, I think you've got a certain right not to make a distinction between a "German soldier" and a "Nazi".

Sounds like the hotel is just trying to make the best of a bad situation, (sounds like the Bar Mitzvah was booked first). My friend said the hotel was trying to make up for it by offering reduced drink prices Saturday night for the reenactors' ball and free appetizers.

Reenactors portraying WWII Germans have lots of problems meeting in public places, they can't just show up at a bar still in uniform after an event like the Brits or Yanks can. They either have to take their uniforms off, or make special arrangements ahead of time. By the way, WWII seems to be one of the fastest growing reenactment eras in the last few years.

[Cobaltblu]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a German WWII uniform.  My grandfather was a German officer in WWII and he wasn't a Nazi and didn't belong to the Nazi party (or the SS which were the real bad guys, not necessarily the average guy in the regular army).  He fought honorably on the eastern front against the Russians and was never responsible for any war crimes and never took part in any and didn't like the Nazis or the SS.

I am sure that even the WWII survivor wouldn't be offended merely because they were aware that someone was portraying a German at a reenactment event.  Tom Cruise portrayed a German officer in a highly positive light in his recent movie Valkyrie and I never saw any Jewish groups protesting the movie theaters.

We all know how WWII ended so if anyone doesn't like the "Nazis" (and again not all Germans were Nazis), they shouldn't be offended if someone portrays them and loses the battle at a reenactment event.

Also one of the main themes of the aftermath of the holocaust was not to forget what happened so it never happens again...so why do we need to prevent people from portraying the Germans?

I'm not trying to start a whole debate about WWII but just make the point that people need to be reasonable and not expect other people's rights to be infringed on merely because they "dislike" seeing something.

Regards,

CB

[groomporter]

I agree with you that there's nothing necessarily wrong with wearing a German WWII uniform, but people obviously jump to wrong conclusions when they see such things. (Heck, even Ebay bans auctions of certain German antiques and collectables) But I don't think anyone's rights are really being denied in this case. This is probably just a rather uncomfortable situation for those involved, and we should probably leave it at that until the actual attendees can say first hand how things were handled.

[LaurenLee]

I was there.. I heard the bar-mitzvah received concessions for their room rental rates, etc.

I saw no problems at the Sat night event..I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed meeting people from so many eras of reenacting.  I think one highlight was dancing the "Time Warp" with an Indian from F&I and "Useless" S. Grant, myself

There was a fabric vendor with wonderful linen and wool, and patterns galore... I spent a tad too much!!

Lauren Lee

[jcbanner]

*nod, agrees with Cobaltblu*

*also agrees with Groomporter*

I never like hearing that something can't be done, or something that is historical can't be portrayed because it stands the risk of offending someone.  liked or unliked, its a part of our cultural past and part of what got us to where we are.  Your right when you say that some things should never be forgotten.

But I also agree that the people who potentially could be offended shouldn't have to confront it if they don't have to.  From the short description of how it was handled, I think it was handled nicely. 

I'm curious though if there were any incidents?

[groomporter]

Paraphrased from a friend based on a WWII forum he is on

One of the posts had an update about uniform standards for the Germans, they could not have the swastika on their uniforms in any public areas due to double booking the main ballroom that weekend with a Bar Mitza and one of the grandmothers having survived one of the camps. So Mike (Mike is the organizers of the event) said "not a problem, but can you add something in for our inconveniece," so their appetizers were free and they lowered the booze prices for  both the Ball (Sat) and the Historical Trivia (Friday).

So it kind of sounds like the hotel gave the reenactofest a heads-up before the weekend started.