The bosses of a World War Two event have defended re-enactors dressed as Nazis – including ones resembling Waffen-SS, Hitler Youth and concentration camp guards.

Organisers of the Spirit of Wartime event in Nottinghamshire said the event was designed to let people experience life in military camps of both the Allied and Axis military.

But the event, which was billed as ‘family friendly’, has caused outrage after some of the participants appeared in full Nazi dress, as well as the flying the Swastika flag.

Photographs from the event appeared to show several people dressed in a variety of Nazi uniforms, alongside famous Nazi weapons and vehicles.

German reenactors even fired an 8cm Granatwerfer 43 mortar during the event. 

Photographs from the event appeared to show several people dressed in a variety of Nazi uniforms, including SS uniforms (pictured)

But the event, which was billed as ‘family friendly’, has caused outrage after some of the participants appeared in full Nazi dress

Organisers of the Spirit of Wartime event in Nottinghamshire have defended the event by saying it was designed to let people experience life in military camps of both the Allied and Axis military

The Swastika flag has become a worldwide symbol of Hitler’s fascist state, which carried out the murder of six million Jews, two-thirds of Europe’s entire Jewish population

Some visitors alleged Nazi memorabilia was being sold from a stall, which organisers The Sherwood Forest Trust said it was unaware of and did not approve of.

The charity held the annual event last weekend and said it had over 8,000 visitors.

Families were encouraged to bring a picnic and soak up the history while listening to songs from the 40s.

But Professor Dr. Waitman W. Beorn, an expert in Holocaust history and assistant professor at Northumbria University, was critical of how the history was represented at the event.

He told Nottinghamshire Live: ‘You don’t need people people dressed up as Nazis to talk about the Nazis.’

The academic also said people ‘shouldn’t be comfortable’ dressing like the SS as they need to have a think about the message it sends.

Many countries around the world, including Germany, France, Poland and Russia, have long-standing laws which make flying the Swastika in public illegal

The annual event was held last weekend at Thoresby Park and had over 8,000 visitors

A man reenacting as a soldier inspects his WWII-era weapon

The event included a ‘live battle’ at 1pm for 20 minutes on both days of the event

An academic questioned why some attendees were wearing uniforms which signify some of the most depraved criminality in human history

The SS was the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party and was the organisation most responsible for the Holocaust.

Mr Beorn added that the inclusion of Swastika flags was unnecessary and appeared to be ‘a bit celebratory’.

Many countries around the world, including Germany, France, Poland and Russia, have long-standing laws which make flying the Swastika in public illegal.

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It has become a worldwide symbol of Hitler’s fascist state, which carried out the murder of six million Jews, two-thirds of Europe’s entire Jewish population.

The academic said the uniforms signify some of the most depraved criminality in human history.

He also questioned the logic of people who spend money to dress up as Nazis as a hobby.

The expert said there are great WWII history events that don’t allow German re-enactments.

Patrick Candler, chief executive of the Sherwood Forest Trust, told the website Nazi reenactors had been attending the event for years.

He argued the both sides and ‘balanced approach’ by the charity was important for education. 

The boss said no complaints were received from any of its nearly 8,000 visitors over the weekend.

He said organisers had also consulted with a Holocaust centre in the lead-up to the event. 

The charity which organised the event said it consulted with a Holocaust centre in the lead-up to the event

A hall at the event was used for educational purposes with information printed out on boards 

Soldiers reenact a battle in WWII by wearing German uniforms and flying the Nazi flag

According to a report on the Spirit of Wartime Sherwood by The Sherwood Forest Trust, the organisation was developing partnerships with larger organisations such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Clumber Park and Nottingham University.

In the report it stated the National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM) partnership was also made recently following staff changes and a ‘wariness’ about the nature of the war depictions.

But the report stated the relationship was being negotiated after reassurances of the sensitivity with which the project dealt with the subject matter. 

The National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM) has been contacted by MailOnline for comment. 

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WWII re-enactment group who dress up as Nazis are condemned by campaigners as ‘insensitive and grossly offensive’

Sherwood Forest Trust is a small charity established in 1995. The trust’s work centres on nature, people and local communities around the forest. 

The Spirit Of Wartime Sherwood WW2 event was held on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 of May 2024 from 10am to 4pm at Thoresby Park.

Car parking for the event was £3 for all day and it included a ‘live battle’ at 1pm for 20 minutes on both days.

The event included a teddy bingo, hamper raffle, guess the bears name, books and amazing knitted items for sale.

Visit Nottinghamshire, the county’s tourist board, appeared to remove a promotional article of the event from its website after it became aware of the concerns around the Nazi outfits. 

A spokesperson for the organisation apologised for any offence that may have been caused.

Visit Nottinghamshire said it has no affiliation with or influence over the event’s content.

The Nazis’ concentration and extermination camps: The factories of death used to slaughter millions

Auschwitz-Birkenau, near the town of Oswiecim, in what was then occupied Poland

Auschwitz-Birkenau was a concentration and extermination camp used by the Nazis during World War Two.

The camp, which was located in Nazi-occupied Poland, was made up of three main sites.

Auschwitz I, the original concentration camp, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a combined concentration and extermination camp and Auschwitz III–Monowitz, a labour camp, with a further 45 satellite sites.

Auschwitz, pictured in 1945, was liberated by Soviet troops 76 years ago on Wednesday after around 1.1million people were murdered at the Nazi extermination camp 

Auschwitz was an extermination camp used by the Nazis in Poland to murder more than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews.

Birkenau became a major part of the Nazis’ ‘Final Solution’, where they sought to rid Europe of its Jewish population.

An estimated 1.3 million people were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Since 1947, it has operated as Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, which in 1979 was named a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Treblinka, near a village of the same name, outside Warsaw in Nazi-occupied Poland

Unlike at other camps, where some Jews were assigned to forced labor before being killed, nearly all Jews brought to Treblinka were immediately gassed to death.

Only a select few – mostly young, strong men, were spared from immediate death and assigned to maintenance work instead.

Unlike at other camps, where some Jews were assigned to forced labor before being killed, nearly all Jews brought to Treblinka were immediately gassed to death

The death toll at Treblinka was second only to Auschwitz. In just 15 months of operation – between July 1942 and October 1943 – between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were murdered in its gas chambers.

Exterminations stopped at the camp after an uprising which saw around 200 prisoners escape. Around half of them were killed shortly afterwards, but 70 are known to have survived until the end of the war

Belzec, near the station of the same name in Nazi-occupied Poland

Belzec operated from March 1942 until the end of June 1943. It was built specifically as an extermination camp as part of Operation Reinhard. 

Polish, German, Ukrainian and Austrian Jews were all killed there. In total, around 600,000 people were murdered.

The camp was dismantled in 1943 and the site was disguised as a fake farm.  

Belzec operated from March 1942 until the end of June 1943. It was built specifically as an extermination camp as part of Operation Reinhard

Sobibor, near the village of the same name in Nazi-occupied Poland

Sobibor was named after its closest train station, at which Jews disembarked from extremely crowded carriages, unsure of their fate. 

Jews from Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Soviet Union were killed in three gas chambers fed by the deadly fumes of a large petrol engine taken from a tank. 

An estimated 200,000 people were killed in the camp. Some estimations put the figure at 250,000. 

This would place Sobibor as the fourth worst extermination camp – in terms of number of deaths – after Belzec, Treblinka and Auschwitz. 

Sobibor was named after its closest train station, at which Jews disembarked from extremely crowded carriages, unsure of their fate

The camp was located about 50 miles from the provincial Polish capital of Brest-on-the-Bug. Its official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor.

Prisoners launched a heroic escape on October 14 1943 in which 600 men, women and children succeeded in crossing the camp’s perimeter fence.

Of those, only 50 managed to evade capture. It is unclear how many crossed into allied territory.

Chelmno (also known as Kulmhof), in Nazi-occupied Poland

Chelmno was the first of Nazi Germany’s camps built specifically for extermination. 

It operated from December 1941 until April 1943 and then again from June 1944 until January 1945. 

Between 152,000 and 200,000 people, nearly all of whom were Jews, were killed there.  

Chelmno was the first of Nazi Germany’s camps built specifically for extermination. It operated from December 1941 until April 1943 and then again from June 1944 until January 1945

Majdanek (also known simply as Lublin), built on outskirts of city of Lublin in Nazi-occupied Poland

Majdanek was initially intended for forced labour but was converted into an extermination camp in 1942. 

It had seven gas chambers as well as wooden gallows where some victims were hanged.

In total, it is believed that as many as 130,000 people were killed there. 

Majdanek (pictured in 2005) was initially intended for forced labour but was converted into an extermination camp in 1942