Hey, there! Log in / Register
Hudson restaurant apologizes for not making couple of WWII re-enactors take off their Nazi uniforms before sitting down for dinner
By adamg on Sun, 10/13/2024 - 12:57pm
Kith and Kin in Hudson posted this morning it regrets an incident last night involving a "group of living historians" who'd just come from an annual World War 2 re-enactment in town, two of whom were still dressed as SS officers.
One patron who was waiting for a table reports he walked out when he saw the Nazis walking in and being seated.
The restaurant wrote:
Last night, a group of living historians from the American Heritage Museum dined at our restaurant. The table of eight showed up in their costumes: four US soldiers, a military nurse, and a couple dressed as SS soldiers. In hindsight, they should have been asked to change before being seated. Even though we knew they were living historians, at a time when acts of anti-Semitic violence continue to rise, we should have realized other diners might not be aware of the local WWII re-enactment. We would never intentionally do anything to offend or hurt anyone in the community. If we truly thought these individuals held anti-Semitic beliefs, we would never have allowed them to step foot in the restaurant. As a small, family-owned business, we strive every day to do our best and are continuing to learn and grow. Last night we fell short, and we deeply apologize.
A Bluesky user, Coffeemancer Vanvidum, posted last night:
We were waiting to be seated at a restaurant when a group of people came in... dressed in Nazi SS uniforms. They had a reservation.
We walked out rather than share space with that and ate somewhere else. I don't know where those assholes came from, and I've never had to walk out of a place before.
Another Bluesky user wrote the president of the American Heritage Museum to express her disgust that it lets re-enactors leave the battlefield still dressed as Nazis.
She reports he initially replied part of the goal of the re-enactment is to show disgust at what Nazis did, but adds that when she followed up by asking for some details on who owns the uniforms and what the protocols are for wearing them, he responded that all the re-enactors are volunteers, they own their own uniforms and "It is not even clear at this point that they were registered reenactors as there was a dinner for all of the participants that evening," which makes it sound like there might just have been Nazis in full regalia marching around Hudson - at the end of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Obligatory
They Did Nazi That Coming.
Living historians? That’s a
Living historians? That’s a new take on people who get off dressing up as genocidal war criminals. Would they have let living historians dressed as the KKK eat there too? It’s pretty hard to believe people whose hobby is dressing up as Nazis don’t feel some kinship in values to them.
Civil war reenactors
I have known several Civil war reeenactors who are fanatic about the historical details but not really the cause.
Someone's got to play the bad guys or the good guys can't win.
At least
it wasn't a group of dead historians. That would constitute a serious sanitary violation, even during the Halloween season.
Anybody with half a brain
Anybody with half a brain would realize these were historical re-enactors. What an opportunity for diners with a steenth of historical imagination to appreciate the scene.
In a time when politicians are stoking and profiting from white supremacy and grievance politics I think it is a low-key sobering gift to see this cautionary tale sitting at the next table.
but that would mean missing the opportunity to be outraged
You have it right, seeing a group in WW II uniforms of the opposing sides hanging out together should have excited the "reenactor. cool." reaction.
Unfortunately these virtue signaling reactions are killing off reenacting altogether. That would be another part of informal civil society and affiliation killed off.
"Virtue Signaling"
What do you think those people wearing swastikas, probably the most offensive symbol currently known to man (outside of a MAGA rally) are "signaling"?
The number of people on here defending "reenactors" comfortably walking around a Metro-West restaurant in their favorite nazi uniforms is way too high. Kith and Kin is not the Paramount commissary.
Not really, no?
Real-actual today-Nazi-wannabes do this shit already, so... there's no reason to expect people it's re-enactors.
We were talking about people with at least half a brain
Seeing a group dressed in WW II US Army uniforms, 1944 Red Cross nurse uniforms and SS uniforms hanging out as friends.
Not those with less than half a brain jumping to conclusions
saastika
If you don't remove your swastika from the wrong context, or remove yourself to the right context while wearing one - I will punch your ass out. Even if I am outnumbered.
Test me.
Don't ever go to Asia for a long stay, internet tuff guy
you will either control yourself or get your ass beat or imprisoned.
Nazi cosplay and swastika t-shirts are occasionally encountered in Tokyo, Bangkok, Manila, etc. I've seen groups of teenage boys dressed in black SS dress uniforms there.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-stand-of-t-shirts-decorated-with-swast...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Nazi_cosplay_%...
Perhaps you will intervene and try to force them to change their ways, in typical American style.
Oh, are we doing "fascism is
Oh, are we doing "fascism is okay if it's cultural relativism, actually"? Because yeah, the fact that Japanese kids don't have an issue with the Nazis is a problem, actually, and could probably benefit from some education. After all, it's not as if Nazi Germany and Japan were ever aligned, right?
And before your next inevitable 'but actually'....people can tell the difference between a Nazi swastika and an Original Flavor (i.e. Buddhist) one because people can understand context clues.
the comment was on Internet Tuff Guy's
promise to "punch your ass out."
I was wondering if that extended to teenage cosplayers in Tokyo, or t-shirt vendors or wearers in Bangkok.
None of that would have much to do with actual fascism, except the actual punching of ignorant kids and t-shirt vendors.
Or punching nerdy WWII hobbyist reenactors playing the other side, or Civil War reenactors wearing gray for that matter.
Punching? That's when you take on the characteristics of the thing you don't like being signified.
It's a big world, get over it.
My former wife...
...had a copy of _Stalky and Company_, a coming-of-age novel by Rudyard Kipling set in a private school in England. It had a swastika on its cover. I later learned that all of Kipling's books used to have swastikas; it was something he picked up during his time in India, long before there was any such thing as Nazism.
You assume a lot
Such as, that people know that World War II re-enactments even happen, let alone that one had been happening in or near this small town on this particular day.
We assumed that lots of people have less than 1/2
a brain
Which includes those ignorant of widely and repeatedly publicized things like reenacting.
And reenacting includes the hundreds of WW II movies and series which are shot everywhere of course.
If you're that ign'rant how do you even know an SS uniform is?
Are World War II re-enactments "repeatedly publicized" ?
Of course I know about Revolutionary War re-enactments, because they happen every year and I live fairly close to Arlington, Lexington, and Concord. There's a whole state holiday set aside for them. But why would I expect a World War II re-enactment in some random Metro West town on some random weekend?
Exactly.
Exactly.
And anyone with half a brain knows WW11 was not fought anywhere near Massachusetts.
explained as simply as I possibly can
1. "The table of eight showed up in their costumes: four US soldiers, a military nurse, and a couple dressed as SS soldiers."
2. US political Nazis wearing historically accurate 1944 Waffen SS uniforms, AND also dressing up as WW II US Army soldiers and military nurses? Again, do you have half a brain? Lately US Nazis wear khaki Dockers and blue polo shirts, don't they? Or maybe brownshirts like NDSAP party members.
3. The composition of the party is obvious context - all wearing historically accurate 1944 US and German uniforms, socializing together.
4. This is an annual, fairly large event. https://www.communityadvocate.com/2021/10/13/world-war-ii-reenactment-re...
If you didn't know about it, you could ask someone else in the vicinity before losing your shit.
5. Based on photos of past Hudson reenacting, the SS uniforms almost certainly were camouflage Waffen SS uniforms for the "Battle for the Airfield" and not the black Gestapo SS uniforms with red swastika armbands.
https://www.alamy.com/a-wwii-german-camp-is-captured-by-the-americans-du...
If you assumed they were a fascist political gathering in a remote sleepy central Massachusetts town rather than reenactors or possibly actors from a WW II drama being shot nearby in the Assabet forests you don't have half a brain.
I mean...
...why not?
The classic black SS uniform was not the Waffen SS uniform
The Waffen-SS -- the military force of the Nazi Party -- wore "field gray" uniforms similar to those of the regular German army. They had different rank insignia, though, and wore "SS" runes on their collars.
you know
your lived experience is your own, not the standard to which the rest of us should aspire. in my opinion, someone with half a brain would never assume as much.
People should go beyond "lived experience"
and like, read books, newspapers and other news sources.
That is how you go beyond half a brain.
good point
considering the current state of affairs, it is hardly surprising that someone might be alarmed by individuals wearing Nazi regalia
again, the phrase “read books, newspapers, and other news sources” does not imply “read everything that deselby reads.”
I read plenty of all of these
and was *still* unaware of World War II re-enactments in our region.
Movies aren't "reenacting"
So there was a film crew present?
If you think that a Nazi uniform has to be someone dressed up for a movie, you're the one who's "ign'rant".
historical dramas are literally reenacting events
look up reenact in a dictionary
and if you've been around film sets, people in costume get breaks and wander off set
Again, we were talking about people with half a brain.
And if you had half a brain,
And if you had half a brain, you'd at least take off the stuff that was screaming "I'M A NAZI" if you're going off-site and into public where people might be reasonably alarmed to see an SS officer at their local Dunk's.
What. On Yom Kippur it’s good
What. On Yom Kippur it’s good that people dressed as Nazis were seated in a restaurant open to the public? In what world is that ok
How are customers supposed to
How are customers supposed to know that these were "historical re-enactors"? As someone else said, I literally didn't know that there were WWII re-enactors until reading this article.
If I saw someone walk into a restaurant decked out in Nazi regalia, I would probably make the reasonable assumption that they were Trump supporters.
The My Pillow ad is a nice touch.
Especially the $14.88 "Heil Hitler" Special.
American Heritage Museum?
My spidey senses are tingling after moseying around the website. No curators, historians or even any credentialed people on staff. If seems to be run on the backs of volunteers, and there doesn't seem to be any training for volunteers across the board. Anyone checking weaponry safety during demos and reenactments? Is the "museum" assuming legal and health risks for participants and visitors?
It refers to citizen soldiers - so is this a white supremacist entity hiding in plain sight?
let go of your pearls, and take a valium
they are legitimate, and have a tremendous collection.
Try using some very readily available public information before making potentially defamatory suggestions.
https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/details/
Collings Foundation Inc.
EIN: 47-1954671 | Hudson, Massachusetts, United States
The right context
When they wore it out of context, that was not ANYONE else mistaking the context. That was them behaving offensively in the context of America.
GFY edgelord.
where do these "patrons" dine when in Hollywood?
Yes it was utterly classless to walk around Metro West dressed as Nazis. But if they were dressed as dinosaurs, would they think they were real?
Full disclosure: I've been to WWII reenactments. The Nazi parts made me uncomfortable, even seen in that context. I'm not Jewish.
The "reenactors" could have changed into street clothes.
In Hollywood, actors eat on
In Hollywood, actors eat on set. Or they change out of costume, when they are wearing costumes that appear disturbing or threatening. Dinosaurs are obviously pretend. The problem with Nazi uniforms is that they are sometimes, all too often, worn by actual modern neo-nazis. How the hell is anyone supposed to know the guy in the nazi uniform is not a real neo-nazi?
Barry Levinson's "Avalon"
There's a scene in that movie based on this issue during Halloween. It was pretty funny.
Could not be made today, like "Blazing Saddles."
.
.
There aren’t any dinosaurs
There aren’t any dinosaurs around anymore so it’s unlikely people would confuse people dressed as dinosaurs as real dinosaurs. There are nazis and white supremacists (including some prominent ones backing Trump like David Duke) so people in nazi uniforms or wearing confederate flags do make some people uncomfortable, even if the people wearing nazi stuff or flying onfederate flags are just “playing” or celebrating their heritage.
There are plenty of dinosaurs
In fact, there are more species of dinosaurs alive today than there are of mammals, unless I'm mistaken.
We call them birds.
You know what a pizza wheel is?
All edge and no point.
They could at least had taken
They could at least had taken off the WWII SS Ärmelbinde. Someone, please tell me they at least took off the armbands.
Something is odd here.
Something is odd here. Actors do not walk around in their customs. They are expensive and uncomfortable. They would not want to get them dirty or worm. They know what type of response a nazi uniform would get.
Service to be denied ...
Via telepathetic waves...."if we truly thought these individuals held anti-Semitic beliefs"
Imagine
If we didn't have trivial matters for folks to be outraged over? What would folks do?
Spring time in Germany
On your playlist
Got it
We will mark you as one of the outraged folks...
Take them bowling
Got big lanes got big lanes
Nice
Saw them put on an amazing four-hour show at the Middle East some years ago. I admit that going in, that was the only song I knew, but I loved the whole set.
i find this kind of response particularly brainless
because when it's something you don't like, you voice your displeasure on here all the time. nazi garb in public is no big deal to you, so you insist no one else should be bothered.
respectfully, find a substantial critique or stfu
Excluding facts to bolster your argument
My critique is based on all of the context of what transpired. Your assumption assumes I am ok with Nazi garb in public by removing the fact they were in a group of other actors in period garb. Furthermore, my comment is based on the reaction and statement of the patrons that left and how they somehow assumed the restaurant supports Nazi's. Going even further, I see no reason why the restaurant needs to apologize for someone's lack of understanding. Is that substantial enough for you?
Lol
You’re describing yourself too. Pot meet kettle
I don't know if I should laugh or
....laugh.
The comical timing of it all at with Yom Kippur. The way Israel for years, has been compared to Nazis in the way they handled Gaza and how they treat Palestinians.
It feels like an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Would there be outrage at people dressed up as US Military going to eat at Vietnamese place?
How about a bus load of Japanese tourists showing up with Lei and Hawaiian shirts at a movie premiere of "Pearl Habor" - that occurred btw at the Fenway theatre
I think it really was a case of bad timing, and perhaps poor judgement - but likely not hate.
You've really been considerate
You seem to think the patrons don't have a respectable right to be offended by the casual display of the swastika? Hey, as long as YOUR vibes aren't ruined.
I'd have confronted the ignorant re-enactor to the point of yes, ruining their meal experience. Ignorant or evil is not a game I play with someone literally wearing a swastika.
You stay casual.
Hm.
You and I have very different ideas of what "comical" looks like.
On Youtube...
...you'll find a clip of a Hawaiian band playing the Gunkan March, blissfully unaware that it was the official march of the Imperial Japanese Navy, that is, the people who bombed Pearl Harbor.
Keep looking
and you'll also find a recording of the US Coast Guard Band playing that march.
As we all know...
As we all know, the proper response when the SS is spotted in a restaurant is to stride confidently up to the band, and say: "Play La Marseillaise. PLAY IT!"
It was funny in the movie Avalon?
Except if a person was actually paying attention to the story they would realize that the scene was a warning that with enough generations the mass murder of millions can become just one of the funny little historical details that doesn't really mean anything. But hey, for some folks it was just good old fashion murder. After all Hitler just means a war that equaled tens of millions of deaths, decades of oppression by the Soviets and in general a great time for 20th century nation sponsored terrorism.
Hopefully the word got back to the people wearing SS clothing and they realize that they were just utterly stupid doing so.
Can you remind us about this scene?
Two people have now referred to this movie, which I *did* see, but more than 30 years ago, so I don't remember the scene you are both talking about.
Over sensitive crybabies
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the ignorance of some people. The restaurant and it patrons calling reenactors a-holes without even knowing them? I guess this is the world we live in now. Sad.
Without knowing them
Assuming that men entering a restaurant wearing the uniforms of mass murderers are not assholes, without knowing them - sad.
Jeez
I wouldn't have worn Nazi garb to a restaurant thinking that everyone understood passable context, and I have (expletive) Asperger's.
Self-Diagnosed Asperger's
And you repeat Nazi rhetoric on UH, and it wasn't a reenactment.
Mel Brooks
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.
From Globe story today, the perspective of the museum
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/10/15/metro/hudson-restaurant-nazi-sold...