What is illegal in Germany but appears at a ‘family friendly’ event in the UK?
You probably won’t guess it, but it’s the wearing of Nazi uniforms, the display of swastikas, and the sale of Nazi memorabilia.
A two-day festival in Nottinghamshire was supposed to celebrate the local Sherwood community’s role in World War II.
Some 7,000 people visited Thoresby Park to dance like a 1940s dancehall-goer, learn to cook like you’re living off rations, and listen to live music in a courtyard.
The Spirit of Wartime Sherwood event, at a country estate that once hosted the War Office, was sold as a chance to ‘celebrate, remember and reminisce’ the war years.
It also included a Holocaust exhibition, offered a chance to see life on the home front, and to learn about Allied military tactics during Operation Market Garden.
But the event sparked outrage on social media when people saw Nazi flags for sale and pint-carrying attendees clad in Nazi uniforms.
Many of them donned the clothes of the Waffen SS, which was heavily involved in the mass extermination of Jewish people and other groups in the Holocaust.
Holocaust expert Dr Waitman Beorn, an assistant professor of history at Northumbria University, said: ‘Weird how the Waffen-SS constituted no more than 7% of the German Army in WWII but seems to make up about 85% of the reenactors at your event.’
Elsewhere at the event, a woman was pictured with blonde pigtails and a grey uniform reminiscent of concentration camp guards or the SS Helferinnen, some of whom worked at Auschwitz.
A vendor was also pictured displaying a war flag of Nazi Germany’s army.
Nazi propaganda was banned in Germany after World War II. This includes the public display of images and symbols like swastikas, and the wearing of SS uniforms.
However, this has not been illegal in the UK, expect for during the wartime years of 1939 to 1945.
Dan Kaszeta, a defence expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, referred to it as ‘genocide cosplay’.
Posting on X, he wrote: ‘Cosplaying bad people in public is unnecessary and problematic. It clearly draws out the bad people of our own time.
‘We don’t see, and rightly so, people “reenacting” slave ships or Klan rallies, even though both happened.
‘So cut it out with the SS shite. SS cosplaying is like blackface. They are just wrong.’
He added: ‘For the record, I find the hammer and sickle, the Red Army, and the NKVD just as wicked and hateful as the SS and swastikas and don’t want to see any of that shite in historical reenactment either.’
Event organisers, the Spirit of Wartime Sherwood Project, which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, defended the event.
In a statement, its CEO Patrick Candler told Metro.co.uk: ‘This event was part of a much broader four-year project that aims to uncover and share the impact of the Second World War on the Sherwood Forest area, its landscape and communities.
‘This year’s event builds on the success of the one that was organised a year ago and forms part of a series of creative and engaging activities which celebrated the successes of the wider project and gave an opportunity for a broader audience of people to learn and engage with this heritage of Nottinghamshire.
‘The Spirit of Wartime Sherwood took place on May 18/19 and included re-enactors from the Allied and Axis sides.
‘The living history groups present portrayed German and other Axis country perspectives including home front, conscription, indoctrination of children, propaganda, and conscription of occupied countries.
‘All living history groups had to complete a statement detailing what educational element they would be bringing to the event to apply to attend.
‘The aim of the event was education, and has been part of a wider programme of educational and community activities that we have organised during the past 4 years.
‘Overall, the week-end has been a great success with more than 7,000 people attending.
‘We have had many positive comments from visitors who would like us to put on a similar event in 2025.
‘No negative responses were expressed by attendees on the day though there were opportunities to speak to staff and an evaluation area encouraging feedback of all persuasions.
‘We will be under taking a full evaluation of the event when we have had a chance to review the written evaluation sheets that we have prepared.’
Despite claiming the Nazi uniforms were part of the event’s educational programme, some of the uniforms were historically inaccurate.
One person was dressed in a uniform of communist East Germany, formed after World War II.
Another person wore a white t-shirt emblazoned with the two black lightning strikes known as a Siegrune, the symbol of the SS since adopted by neo-Nazi group.
A third wore a ‘laughing swordfish’ badge associated with German submarine crews, rather than the SS.
The three were pictured posing in a group clad in various Nazi garbs, while many of them held glasses of beer.
Asked what educational purpose is served by historically inaccurate uniforms and the sale of Nazi memorabilia, the Spirit of Wartime Sherwood said it has ‘no further comments to add’.
It also refused to comment on whether Jewish people would feel safe at the event.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund said it was reviewing its approach with Spirit of Sherwood after being contacted by Metro.co.uk.
In a statement, it said: ‘The Spirit of Wartime Sherwood project aims to uncover and share the impact of the Second World War on the landscape and communities of Sherwood Forest.
‘Like many aspects of history, this is a complex story to tell and we encourage our grantees to cover challenging aspects of history in a considered and thoughtful way.
‘The Heritage Fund did not provide grant support towards this re-enactment or merchandise stalls but we do have real concerns about the event and its impact on the wider project and will be reviewing the approach taken directly with the grantee.’
Bainbridge Events, the event management company that organised the event with Spirit of Wartime Sherwood, refused to comment.
Thoresby Park, the venue where it was held, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
