What is going on at that German restaurant?

Yesterday, I saw this article on Gawker about a local German restaurant who hosted a holiday party for a WWII re-enactment group. Aside from the fact that I don’t understand why there are WWII re-enactment groups, this group decorated the restaurant with Nazi flags and was wearing SS uniforms.

Yes, I was appalled too. What I don’t understand is how could the restaurant owner think that kind of thing would be good for business? Apparently, it’s been going on at that restaurant for the past six years and it just came to light the other day when an anonymous tip was sent to City Pages and then Gawker picked it up.

Is this the first time they decorated the place with symbols of hate? Maybe in years past they didn’t have swastikas plastered all over the walls and themselves. How did they get into the restaurant wearing said uniforms? Likely, it was freezing ass cold and they had coats on to coverup what they were wearing underneath. This is Minnesota and last December was pretty cold & snowy.

Back to my first point about the WWII re-enactments…I had no idea such things exist. Does anyone else think these are a little odd? I know I’ve heard of Revolutionary and Civil War re-enactments. While I find the Civil War ones slightly odd (and somewhat off-putting if you REALLY want to be part of the South), I can see the historical/educational value of them. Plus NO ONE IS STILL ALIVE FROM THOSE TWO WARS!

Honestly, there are folks around who lived through that time of our history. I wonder what they think about such things?

And to compare even the Civil War re-enactments to a Star Trek convention is a poor comparison. Star Trek isn’t real. It’s fiction! No one has ancestors or family members who lived through a Klingon battle or faced down a Romulan war bird.

Minnesota has a very large German population.  My own family on my mom’s side used to live in Minnesota & Wisconsin back in the pioneer days and they were straight from Germany. Heck, they just found an alleged Nazi living in this state last year! Granted, he was Ukrainian, but still, my point is that there are still people alive who were involved in WWII.

Most people here celebrate their German heritage and it’s great. Oktoberfest is HUGE around here. The restaurant in question has a huge party. I’m all for celebrating one’s heritage. My own is quite varied, but I try not to do it in a way that might cause people to gasp in horror.

Then again, it might speak more to the people in said re-enactment group. Dressing up like a Nazi is only acceptable if you are in a play or a movie role. While I can see dressing up for a re-enactment that will teach people about the horrors the world went through in the 1940s as acceptable, I do not understand how you can rationalize dressing up in said outfit for a CHRISTMAS PARTY.