Rich Iott, Republican House Candidate, Dressed As A Nazi (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Well, someone has to play the Germans during the renactments.

Remember, when we were kids, someone had to be the Indians ?

And, someone has to play the Confederates...

Are they all racists as well ?




Bit of a tempest in a teapot.

I agree with go navy

You gotta be a little bent in that direction to don THAT uniform.

Now that, My Friend is total Bovine Feces.
Have a cousin and close friend that take part in Civil war events.
One as a Yankee and the other as a Southerner.
They are history buffs and this gives them a chance to engage in a part of history.
Nothing More...................

Now that, My Friend is total Bovine Feces.
Have a cousin and close friend that take part in Civil war events.
One as a Yankee and the other as a Southerner.
They are history buffs and this gives them a chance to engage in a part of history.
Nothing More...................

Well, that may be. However, for a guy with political aspirations, being a Nazi reenactor shows some very poor decision making.

Now that, My Friend is total Bovine Feces.
Have a cousin and close friend that take part in Civil war events.
One as a Yankee and the other as a Southerner.
They are history buffs and this gives them a chance to engage in a part of history.
Nothing More...................

Well, that may be. However, for a guy with political aspirations, being a Nazi reenactor shows some very poor decision making.

The press will have a field day with this. Anyone remember the hoopla when Prince Harry dressed as a Nazi for a costume party?

The movement was twisted no doubt, but part of their PR was the uniform, jackboots and all. Germans have always gone for imagery, and the uniform of the SS conveyed a meessage of power.

As for the confederate uniform.....which one? It's not like they were standard. They ranged from butternut to grey to union blue(those who had served in the Union Army prior to the Civil War kept their old uniforms) and most officers, on both sides, had their uniforms personally tailoredif they had the funds.

War re-enactors are an interesting lot.

US Revolutionary War re-enactors almost always start out portraying rebels but they almost always move on to portraying British Regulars because the uniforms and kit are a lot more interesting.

Civil War re-enactors typically start with portraying Confederates and then move on to portraying the Union for the same reason that the uniforms and kit are more interesting.

WW2 re-enactors gravitate to portraying the Germans because the German uniforms, frankly, look a heckuva lot better than the Allied uniforms. Like it or not, the Krauts had .

And, as was pointed out, it's a real bugger to put on a WW2 re-enactment unless someone is willing to potray the Germans.

He's not playing the Germans. He's specifically playing the Wiking devision of the Waffen SS. He says he's not a Nazi (which you would have to be to join the SS) but admires their fighting spirit for their homeland. Seems a little bent to me. He says he got into it with his son. As somebody on Bill Maher asked "what, the Boy Scouts were full?"

Arguably true as the Wiking division was 60% non-German by the end of the war.



Not true. After 1943 the Waffen SS depended on conscripts who were typically not party members.



You just haven't been around re-enactors. Portraying someone does not mean you sympathize with them. James Mason did a brilliant job of portraying Erwin Rommel and no one cast unfair aspersions on him for that. Hell, Anthony Hopkins once portrayed , does that make him a Nazi? Hmmm?

Up your way you've got the crowd that re-enacts the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and I'm sure the Quebeckers get really peeved at their fellow Quebeckers who portray spiffy British Regulars as opposed to ragtag French.

To reenact a German WWII division, the 5th SS is probably not a bad choice.

The Wiking was composed of volunteers from Belgium to Finland. As such,
being non Germans, well you get my point.
Also, yes that division never really faced American forces, so another advantage.


Bad choices.. 12th SS Hitlerjugend, for Normandy
9th and 10th SS, in Arnhem for Market Garden
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler aka 1st division, for Malmedy



Actually, there is a group in California that does reenactments of 12th SS
http://www.12hj.com/welcome.html





The SS swore a personal oath to Adolf Hitler, not to Germany.
Membership in the party was optional, but I am sure the original units got lots
of political education.



Many many people since 1917 were convinced that Communist Russia was the real threat in Europe.
Some had enough conviction to go and fight the Russians.

We in the West were happy enough after WWII to make it government policy
to not be friendly to the Russians.

However, I agree that it is a little weak. As was pointed out, the 5th
was never directly implicated in war crimes, but WWII was pretty brutal
all the way around.

Mountain out of a mole hill. Yes a bad choice for someone with political aspirations, should they beat him up over it...No, Simple solution would be not to vote for him if one is offended by this conduct.

Imagine Obama dressing up as Saladin and playing war games against the Crusaders. Do you think people would beat him up for it?