I had to catch my breath when I saw your authentic SS uniform on
Halloween night. Your Totenkopf and Schirmmütze gave
it away. It wasn’t goth. It wasn’t fetishwear. It was real, and it was
in a gay-friendly club on Capitol Hill in the year 2009. You didn’t
wear a swastika—you are a closet Nazi. You wanted to fly under
the radar so that only those who understood could see. And be
frightened. You quietly snarled that it was “political commentary.” I
responded that your SS uniform was louder than whatever political
statement you wanted to make. Only hours later did it occur to me that
fascism actually WAS your political statement. After your friend made
an anti-Semitic comment, I reported you to the person working the door.
She told me she’s Jewish and was offended by your “costume” but let you
in because you “were so polite.”
I should have made more of a scene. I should have gotten you kicked
out. I should have had a better comeback for you than “Du bist ein
Idiot!” You are so lacking in eigene Eier, you have to glorify a
sad, fucked-up history that you do not understand. If we meet again, I
will stop at nothing to have you and your hate physically removed from
the vicinity. And if said staff cannot be bothered, I will kick your
*SS back into your Nazi closet all by my dirndl-wearin’, gothic-lovin’,
PFLAG-joinin’ self! 
It’s a fucking costume. On Halloween. Get over yourself you uptight bed-wetting Seattle puss.
SS uniforms look badass, anyway. Nazis had good style, what can I say? Doesn’t mean I’m not proud that my grandfather killed the fuckers for several years of his life.
boohoo – halloween & people who get offended, NOWAY! WHOA! pfft.
The author fails to mention that the accused, “Nazi” was also wearing a G.W. Bush mask, hence the political commentary. & I don’t threats of attacking a patron at our night lightly. Should the author come back & try to start a fight, they will be asked to leave.
Should say, I don’t take threats of attacking a patron at our night lightly. Thank you.
Should say, I don’t take threats of attacking a patron at our night lightly. Thank you.
In what is now unified Germany, the swastika and other forms of inappropriate political dissent, are ILLEGAL.
Assholes sporting Nazi or George W. Bush drag in American public places notwithstanding, is the correct response found in “honoring” their repugnance by “banning” their presence? This only serves to (I hate to say it) embolden their sense of indignation, thus empowering their mind-malleable, youthful recruits.
Is it not better to simply shun them socially, and focus on spreading a widely cast positive message of democracy, equality, historical accuracy, political tolerance, regardless of their seemingly ignorant and obsolete symbolism?
Well, the addition of the GWB mask into all this, for me, absolves the costume-wearer from all guilt. Up to the point of learning this insanely salient fact, I was in the camp (ooopsie!) of criticizing the guy’s choice of costume and agreeing in spirit with @40.
But now it’s clear the guy took care to remove the swastikas AND his point (overdone and hackneyed as it may be) of equating GWB with fascism was pretty damn clear as well.
Oh, and throwing a drink in someone’s face is assault. It plays well in 1930s movies, but that’s pretend. Movies. Are pretend.
@46 – Yes, that is exactly what I’m trying to do. Forgive Hitler. What the fuck?
I merely pointing out that yes, Che and Mao t-shirts represent murderous dictatorships that committed more murder than the Nazis. I haven’t seen any Pol Pot t-shirts or related clothing.
You are correct in that most people who wear those shirts are probably not fully aware of what they represent, which is basically what @12 was saying.
At least he was polite when he entered the club. You know why Hitler didn’t drink gin? Cause it made him mean.
@59, exactly. The omission of that detail sent this I, Anonymous from kinda dumb (why didn’t you ask him what the political statement was before going ballistic?) to flat-out ludicrous. Agree with the sentiment or don’t, but the commentary is clear and it ain’t about glorifying Nazis.
52 is absolutely correct.
To anyone who understands anything about modern German history and culture, the glorification of the Nazi regime is perhaps the most offensive statement that one can make.
If you do not understand this, if you can only see the world from your limited American point of view, well, that is just sad.
For those of us who have a broader perspective of the world, we tend to agree with the author of this note.
Needs more fucking.
What a lamo. Both in this account.
Usually the letters are witty and smart.
This is just boring. Booo!
@43 / @ 12: “out ranks”? “More murders”?
that’s like saying you won’t dare support Ted Bundy because he’s a pussy compared to Gary Ridgeway.
It’s not a competition. If you feel like you have a horse in THIS race, you are lock-uppable.
More importantly, I agree with 41: it’s sad that the asshat in the uniform got all the attention and more that he was whoring for. Thanks, The Stranger!
@48: I give you – Snap Crackle and Pop.
@56/57: s’cool how there’s a free drink policy at your work, but maybe stay off the interwebs after partaking. Missing a club there?
@59/62: so you’re not creeped out by the fact it was an actual nazi uniform, a hard to get item: something they likely sought out, researched, scoured through nazi fansites (or nazi families that liked the uniform enough to KEEP it) to find and then paid money for?? The statement with GW’s face = fine, which I think the OP said too. Free speech isn’t being argued. But the message was creepy.
My question is : But was the private-collection vintage ‘authentic Uniform’, NOT COSTUME, appropriate? How bout this: how bout a vintage 1943 prisoner uniform, pink-triangle-on-yellow on the sleeve, complete with actual blood stains? How’s that work for ya? Is it still “No big deal, it’s just halloween”?
[Or are you going to try and compete again and tell me how chinese prisoner uniforms are much harder to get…]
this is america, halloween or not people can wear whatever they want as long as they cover their ugly parts. He may be a douche but he has that right. if you didn’t like it you could have left. instead you let him know that his point was received which was probably a giant ego boost to him. you probably made his night.
@66: You can get replica uniforms (including the details the author mentioned) online, some of which are deliberately designed to be indistinguishable from the real thing. What makes you (or the author) think it was actual vintage?
@68–Since the author missed the GWB mask, my guess is it probably isn’t.
Lord knows I keep my own vintage Nazi gear in sealed up in the kind of bags usually used for five-thousand dollar wedding dresses. Right next to the vintage camp uniforms.
@66–In fact, There’s NOTHING (within bounds of community standards of body modesty) that’s inappropriate for Halloween. That’s the magic of it all!
How are you any different from all the muslims in middle-east protesting, rioting and killing against the cartoons published in Danish newpapers ?
If this world has to be tolerant, we have to change ourselves before we point fingures at others. Anti-Nazism isnt any less dangerous than Nazism itself.
cry me a river.
Heil Clitler!
Just because it was a German military uniform used during the Nazi time does not make it purely represent Nazism, anymore than the current Marine’s dress uniforms and insignias represent Liberalism, or represented Republicanism through most of the Iraq war. Both the totenkopf and the schirmmutze were used in the German military prior to the rise of the National Socialist Movement. Don’t villify Germans and balk at symbols that don’t even represent what offends you (unless death in the form of the Death’s Head itself offends you, in which case get over it). I’d wager that the large majority of Germans, even in WWII, that wore those fought for the greatness of Germany and not for the extermination of the Nazi-prescribed Untermenschen.
OMG! I have an opinion too! -Wait- no-YES! Crap, I didn’t study for this, was this in the chapter we were supposed to read last night? Fooey. Why is this still being argued over.
Dirndl didn’t mention the G.W mask, which means (1) They aren’t observant (so we question the authenticity of the uniform), (2) was Drunk as a skunk and didn’t realize it was a G.W jab.(again, we should question many of Dirndl’s points) (3) The guy took it off before Dirndl saw it. -cause masks are hot (temperature wise, in a bar, hot damn the guy must have been dying) at which point, bad on the wearer’s part for not flashing the mask when s/he started getting the stink eye from people.
So, in closing… Did I pass? OMG I need at least a C+ to graduate! *pitiable crying*
Say.
Isn’t Big Bang Theory on tonight?
very dissapointing
@53 tharp42: that’s because they had Hugo Boss designing their duds.
@77- that point is debatable- Apparently they did some tailoring, but were not responsible for the complete uniform/ much less the whole Wehrmacht’s “look”.
@66- Started off great (Snap, Crackle, Pop?!! Hilariously clever reference- true, too!) but run out of gas on the uniform. Genuine ‘real’ SS? Gestapo Sound of Music Badguy uniforms are worth, literally THOUSANDS of dollars now. None would be worn at a Halloween party, much less a ‘gay’ one on Capitol Hill. The writer does say it was real, but pfft- drunk, belligerent, ultra PC wouldn’t know the difference between Heer (army) and SS (ultra Nazi badguys), anyway.
Most of the debate on here was interesting until the fact that the not only did the guy have no swastikas on his supposedly “real” uniform AND a GW Bush mask on. Um, that would’ve be a pretty nice fact to know before all of it, but I guess then it would’ve been moot- BORING.
I’ll tell you though: I laughed at this I, anonymous ‘cos this was my exact same costume this Halloween and one dipshit DID try to get froggy with me over it. I must also mention I’m 5’7″ ,skinny, long greasy hair, tattoos and bullshit. Hardly the pic of an Aryan, eh? Retard. Yeah, it’s HALLOWEEN, dude.
WTF? It’s Halloween! Get over it.
Yes, the Holocaust was a REALLY BAD THING. We must never forget it. So this guy reminded you. Get over it. Look, I probably lost many ancestors and relatives I’ll never know to Hitler’s army. But it’s done. Nothing I can do about it except try to prevent that kind of intolerance and horrific violence from happening again.
And now here comes this guy, threatening PHYSICAL VIOLENCE against another guy who’s just wearing an offensive costume!!
I wonder if he would want such costume wearers rounded up, “concentrated” if you will, into camps, you know, where they will never offend again. Would that solve the problem? Huh?
In the circle of life, it’s amazing how quickly (and often) the victims turn around to become the oppressors.
If all you people that cared about it REALLY cared about it you would get together and build a time machine already. Hitler’s not gonna murder himself!
@81 Fenrox – excellent point! Excellent!
LOLOCAUST!
LOLOCAUST!
@25, “I am sure you are really offended by people who wear MAO or Che shirts. I mean it was really awesome that they killed more people than the Nazis did.
Since when? Or are you trying to be coy by leaving out the millions upon millions of people Hitler killed in his war?
Uh, google “gulag”, “Stalin” “Mao” “Cultural Revolution”, “Pol Pot”, “Killing Fields”
Fact is, the Communists killed up to 100 million people in the 20th century through mass executions, imprisonments and slave-labor programs, policy-induced famines, and war-the Soviet Union could have made short work of the Wehrmact had not Stalin purged the Red Army of competent leaders in the 1930s. They lost 37 million people in WW II. And yet Communist iconography is somehow not offensive!
@25, “I am sure you are really offended by people who wear MAO or Che shirts. I mean it was really awesome that they killed more people than the Nazis did.
Since when? Or are you trying to be coy by leaving out the millions upon millions of people Hitler killed in his war?
Uh, google “gulag”, “Stalin” “Mao” “Cultural Revolution”, “Pol Pot”, “Killing Fields”
Fact is, the Communists killed up to 100 million people in the 20th century through mass executions, imprisonments and slave-labor programs, policy-induced famines, and war-the Soviet Union could have made short work of the Wehrmact had not Stalin purged the Red Army of competent leaders in the 1930s. They lost 26.6 million people in WW II. China lost 20-30 million during the Great Leap Forward-induced famine in 1958-59. They lost another 750,000 to 1.5 million during the Cultural Revolution. The Pol Pot regime in Cambodia killed 1.4 to 2.2 million. Two and a half to 3 million people died in the North Korea famine of the mid Nineties-10% of their population! And yet Communist iconography is somehow not offensive!
Double post, sorry
“And yet Communist iconography is somehow not offensive!”
Thank you, that is a point others have tried to make. Prepare to be accused of defending Hitler now.
There is no defending Hitler.
Wow!, what a uptight(reading way to much into it) self rightgeous little twinkle of halloween bummer you are!
Wasn’t the author’s issue that the dude owned REALLY AUTHENTIC Nazi garb? Like, not some thrown-together Nazi-TYPE outfit assembled just for the purpose of an attack at GWB? From actually talking to these people she learned that they were really anti-semites. So it wasn’t just about the costume, and ‘Oh hey whatevs it’s Halloween’ isn’t an effective dismissal.
The biggest tragedy here is that some really cool fashions, like the peaked cap, long leather or wool coat, and tall boots are stamped indelibly with the taint of the Nazis and the SS and what they stood for. No one can wear clothing like that again without being thought as making a political statement instead of just looking good in their clothes.
70
How are you any different from all the muslims in middle-east protesting, rioting and killing against the cartoons published in Danish newpapers ?
Um, because he’s not rioting and killing. HUGE difference.
Furthermore this Mohammad cartoon didn’t make fun of murdering Muslims or Arabs. I have to agree with a previous post- someone dressed like the KKK would not be defended.
Bit late to this party but I just have to say it;
“Your dressed as DRACULA, do you know how many people Vlad The Impaler killed?”
7?
What the author forgot to mention was that he was wearing a George W Bush mask & a reproduction Nazi uniform. Make your own conclusions.
Call me crazy, but a chick wearing a dirndl? Hawt. And I don’t even like the word “hawt”.