Madam, - Ali Bracken's article on second World War re-enactment groups (Features, January 6th) was very interesting. However, I must query the statement that "there was not a Nazi emblem in sight". The photograph which accompanied the piece was awash with an array of the most potent and iconic symbols of the Nazi regime.
Firstly, numbers of the group and their vehicles wore the SS runes. Founded in 1923, the SS were described as "the core troops of the Nazi movement, the most active fighters of the party". The Waffen, or armed SS, portrayed by the re-enactors were the military wing of the Nazi Party and carried out their military exploits in fulfilment of their oath to Party leader Adolf Hitler of "loyalty and obedience even unto death"
Secondly, the sidecar combinations prominent in the photo sport the tactical symbol of an SS Division entitled "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". Of the 38 Divisions of the Waffen SS, the Leibstandarte or bodyguard division was the first to be formed. Its initial mission was to guard Hitler himself.
Its members, dressed in their black uniforms, provided guards of honour during many Nazi Party ceremonies. Members had to prove Aryan lineage going back many generations and they were imbued with the strictest principles of Nazism. During the war years troops of this division gained for themselves a fearsome reputation in furtherance of the party's aims.
Others may, if they wish, comment on the propriety or sensitivity of commemorating the Waffen SS or continue the debate as to whether all members of the SS were criminally Nazi.
My point here centres purely on the assertion that no Nazi emblems are used during the re-enactments. Patently incorrect. - Yours, etc,
RICHARD HODSON,
Crodaun Forest Park,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.