Rich Iott, the House Republican nominee in Ohio’s 9th district, belongs to a group that reenacts World War II battles as a Nazi SS division.Read the rest here.
Iott confirmed to The Atlantic that he has been a member of the group, called Wiking, for years but that his participation stems from his interest in history.
"In fact, there's a disclaimer on the [Wiking] website,” he told The Atlantic, which first reported his membership. “And you'll find that on almost any reenactment website. It's purely historical interest in World War II."
Iott is seen in photos dressed up in a Nazi military uniform. The group says its name come from the 5th Panzer Division Wiking, which was an armored tank division that included foreigners and mainly fought against Russians on the Eastern Front. A recruiting video on the Wiking site, shows members of the group marching, shooting rifles and performing drills as if they’re German soldiers.
Unbelievable. And before anyone steps up to defend "historical" reenactment as a hobby; we are not talking about a guy who belongs to a WW II group that, when in need of some bad guys makes its members draw lots to see who has to be the enemy. We are not even talking about guys wearing Confederate uniforms at Civil War reenactments. This is a group that is dedicated to a specific unit/division of the Nazi SS. The same unit to which Joseph Mengele belonged. Irrespective of the relatively sane disclaimer on the group's web site, who in their right mind would nominate a man for Congress who dresses in an SS uniform for a hobby? I mean seriously. All the other side has to do is run a silent TV spot showing a photo of this guy for 30 seconds in his deaths head and swastika get up and the election is over. They don't even need to say a word.
I was pretty sure no one was going to top the Christine O'Donnell fiasco. Boy was I wrong. Fortunately for the GOP (unlike in Delaware) I am pretty sure this was not a seat that was considered to be "in play."
2 comments:
Well, at least he wasn't into Ouija Boards, right? C'mon, a little innocent game of Balkan Wars, what's wrong with being a Turk instead of an Armenian? Anyway there weren't any Armenians killed...I mean, there weren't any there...I mean, they had it coming...
And before anyone steps up to defend "historical" reenactment as a hobby; we are not talking about a guy who belongs to a WW II group that, when in need of some bad guys makes its members draw lots to see who has to be the enemy.
I defend historical re-enactment as a hobby, and I also defend the propriety of specializing in SS soldiers' roles in such enactments. German stationary drill is very demanding and precise, and authentic drill is performed instinctively, just as the recruits were forced to do by the Feldwebels (Oberscharführers in SS rank). Such expertise isn't gained by casting lots whenever Germans are needed.
Furthermore, your attack on the practice and on the candidate's participation smacks of a solicitous public-relations concern for the broad-brush prejudices of morons. I'd invite the candidate to educate us on his reasonings, rather than launch superficial attacks on stuff that "looks bad".
In the interests of fairness--even to scumbags--I'd like to point out that Mengele served with honor and distinction as a battlefield doc in the Viking division on the Russian front. The wounds from his combat role caused his reassignment to a more notorious function.
Hell, I'm equal opportunity. If you wanted to dress up as a Franciscan monk during a re-enactment of St. Peter the Aleut's martyrdom, I'd have your back, bro.
Post a Comment